Fallen Night
by Evil Is A Relative Term
Summary: It's been two years since Pain attacked Konoha. Kakashi has been in a coma and Sasuke has been plotting his revenge. When Sasuke decides the best way to destroy the village is from the inside out, what will he discover upon his return?
1. Return of the Prodigal Shinobi

Summary: It's been two years since Pain attacked Konoha. Kakashi has been in a coma and Sasuke has been plotting his revenge. When Sasuke decides the best way to destroy the village is from the inside out, what will he discover upon his return? What has happened to the rest of his former comrades?

Disclaimer: Own Naruto? (Consults with lawyer.) No, guess not.

A/N: Yeah, I know, I should be updating Five Kingdoms, but it takes a lot of character building and this one immediately allows me to plunge into some drama, so there. I have plot bunnies like some people have dust bunnies. I also have a lasting Sasuke grudge. There will be pairings, but it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, would it? I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the Japanese in this story, so sorry beforehand for any language butchery I may indulge in.

Fallen Night

Chapter One

Return of the Prodigal Shinobi

Sasuke stood impassively in front of the oaken desk, meeting the cool hazel eyes across from him without flinching. He heard Karin shift uneasily at his side as the hazel eyes turned piercing.

"So you want to come back, eh, Uchiha? And why would I do that?" Tsunade asked, the force of her glare nearly high enough in intensity to melt Suigetsu into a quivering puddle.

"I have eliminated several threats to Konoha, including two members of Akatsuki and one former member. Besides, the addition of the Sharingan alone should make you want to invite me back to Konoha." His words might have been impassive, but all his plans hinged on Tsunade allowing him to return to the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

There was a long, painful silence where Team Hawk and Shizune both waited for the Hokage's ruling. Finally she unlaced her fingers from where her head had rested on her hands in her habitual thinking pose. She pulled out a blank piece of paper from under one of the stack that littered her desk and began writing. "Very well. I will allow you to return to the village on several conditions. You and your team will reside in the Uchiha district and we'll move in some ninja to watch you there. For the moment, you'll be on a temporary probation, but you will be allowed to participate in the exams." Finishing the missive she folded and sealed it, handing it over to her apprentice. "Find Naruto and give him that. His team will be the first one we move in. The others will be harder to convince." Shizune nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Tsunade sighed. This could only lead to more trouble. Sasuke and his team were waiting with a modicum of patience to be directed further, but she wasn't sure how long they would wait. _Shizune, hurry up and get that knuckle-headed ninja here!_

Luckily for Tsunade's nerves a shout of "Grandma Tsunade!" nearly shook the Hokage Tower only moments later. She winced in sympathy for her poor doors as they were thrown open and one of the most powerful ninja in the village fairly bounded into the room. From an outsider's perspective she analyzed the young ninja who had touched her heart with his energy and honesty. She still remembered him as he had been two years ago, the last time Sasuke had seen him. Compared to then, he was taller yet again, though he would never equal the stature of his beloved 'pervy-sage'. He was frozen now, staring at his former companion, but a breeze created by his passing rustled blond hair grown so long it nearly fell into his eyes every time he stilled. The rest was pulled into a messy ponytail at the nape of his neck, like Jiraiya's once had. You could barely see the scratched and battered metal of his forehead protector, concealed as it was by the golden fall of hair.

His outfit had changed as his hair grew out. While Sasuke and his team simply looked a little older than they once had, Naruto now wore an the all black clothes traditional to the jounin, but over it he wore a long red cloak, the symbols 静寂,for stillness, appearing between his shoulder blades. The contract that he held with the toads was slung to fall easily at his waist, and despite its size he never seemed to notice its weight. On his left wrist, clinking together gently as they fell into their place was a bracelet made of cat's eye jewels in red and black strung together. To an outsider it would be meaningless, but to Tsunade's knowledge, she knew it symbolized his team affiliation.

Naruto's hands fisted, his entire posture conveying tension. "Sasuke." The voice that said it was hoarse with sudden emotion. Ever so slowly a grin spread across his face, his elongated canines and whisker-marks making it fox-like even though that wasn't his intention. "Sasuke-teme! You're back!" He shouted, but he didn't move from where he appeared to have been rooted to the floor.

"And now all of Konoha has heard of his return. Well, Naruto, are you going to accept the mission?" Her smile was the teasing one of a superior to a particularly precious subordinate.

"Believe it!" Naruto said, his voice returning to normal speaking range as he finally came to attention. "Now that Sasuke's back, I'm never gonna let him take off again."

"I'll hold you to that. Now, all of you, out of my office. And Naruto, you have to be the one to tell them." Naruto's face fell and Sasuke wondered what sort of task had been included as part of Naruto's mission.

As he led them out the door, Naruto's enthusiasm seemed to return. He tucked his hands behind his head in his familiar pose, though now it seemed a little more intimidating and less silly than it had when he was a loud genin. "Well...I guess we should go ask the others. At least everyone's here. Probably." He muttered the last part under his breath as he walked over, fingers still laced behind his head, obviously expecting them to follow. Team Hawk followed silently, with unusual reserve.

"So, who are the other three?" Naruto asked curiously, a bright cerulean eye turning back to gaze at them.

"This is Juugo, Suigestu, and Karin." Sasuke said, his impassive mask still in place.

"Right. Well then." Naruto finally opened the door that led them outside, where fresh air and a brilliant sunset greeted them. "Let's see...Hinata-chan and Sai are probably waiting at Ichiruka's, so we can get them first. It'll be like a big reunion." Sasuke's team gazed around curiously as they were greeted by the still bustling streets of Konoha, people out buying dinner or out for a quiet walk before the darkness set in.

"This is a pretty nice place." Suigetsu observed.

Naruto grinned back at him from where he was leading the way. "Konoha is the best place in the world. We're here." They really had reached the small stand that still held several of Sasuke's memories as being part of Team Seven. It was apparently a slow night, as only two of the stools were filled. "Hinata-chan! Sai! We have a mission. Guess what it is?" Naruto called out cheerfully.

"What is it..." the young woman who was sitting on the left bit in a breath. "Naruto-kun, he's back!"

Carefully blank obsidian eyes turned to observe the newcomers, as said newcomers sized up their jailers. The woman wore an oversized cloak similar to Naruto's, except that it was in a pale lilac with white accents. She had flowing hair that fell to her waist and was carefully playing with her fingers and avoiding allowing her pupilless lilac eyes to meet anyone else's. The other man was deathly pale, an impression made even more obvious by his obsidian eyes and jet black hair. He too had longer hair than the last time Sasuke had seen him, pulled back into a neat ponytail with a light fringe of bang framing his face. He wore a sleeveless black vest and standard issue black pants, with a cloak hanging about his waist in such a manner that it appeared to have been halfway taken off and forgotten.

Sai was the first to break their little staring contest, instead leaning indolently against the counter, propping himself up with his elbow. "Well dickless, you were talking about a mission?"

"We have to guard the teme and his team. We'll move into the Uchiha district, so be prepared for a long term mission." Naruto explained, ignoring the insult thrown at him by his teammate.

"Is anyone else involved, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked softly, as if her voice would break the carefully cheerful facade that Naruto had painted for himself. She knew him better than many, having been on his team for three long years, having the eyes that she had. She could see the welling rage that she would be forced to counter in training tomorrow.

"Old lady Tsunade said she wanted the Twelve involved." Naruto grumbled.

"The Twelve?" Karin asked curiously, breaking her unusual silence.

"The Konoha Twelve. It refers to the twelve ninja of our generation that are supposed to be the best." Sai explained, his fake, polite smile on his lips. "Sasuke was one."

"Um...are we going to be able to get them all to do it?" Hinata asked timidly.

"Why wouldn't they?" Juugo asked, his first words since they had passed Konoha's gates.

Naruto grimaced, something that once again displayed his impressive teeth, which caused Karin to gaze at him in detached scientific curiosity. He ran a hand through his already wild hair, and answered the gentle giant. "Well, most of us are really busy. And some don't like taking long term assignments. But truthfully, this kind of mission would usually go to Chouji or Lee, not us."

"Why not?" Sasuke was willing to ask a question if it meant gaining information on the people he would eventually have to bypass on the way to his revenge.

"Because, Uchiha-san, we're hunter-nin. We don't usually stay in the village very long between missions." It was Hinata who answered his question. She expounded on her answer when Sasuke only raised a brow in a silent question. "It was the only specialization that would let Naruto-kun keep chasing after you outside Konoha. Sai-kun and I are his team. Our team designation is ヘルファイア(Hellfire)."

"We specialize in A- and S-class. That's why this is quite the honor for you to be watched by us." The pale man was smiling again.

"Sai. Stop smiling like that. It's creepy." Naruto said in exasperation. "So, Hinata, know where anyone is this evening?"

"Well," she said, drawing small circles on the counter with the tip of her index finger, "I think Ino and Chouji were going out to get barbeque with Lee, and I think Shino's team may have joined them."

"So, that'd take care of everyone but them, and they're the ones most likely to not want the mission. So, how do you guys feel about getting some barbeque on me for your first meal in Konoha?" Naruto asked.

"Do we have a choice?" Suigetsu muttered.

Naruto looked startled, saying, "You don't like barbeque?"

"You're about to introduce us to the people who'll serve as our guards for who knows how long. You don't have to be so cheerful about it." Karin said pointedly.

Naruto only shrugged, the crimson fabric that shrouded him rippling subtly with the movement.

"At least there'll be a rotation, Naruto-kun, so it's not like they have to give up missions all together."

Naruto snorted quietly. "I wouldn't have a chance if that was the case. Well, let's go before everyone leaves and we have to track them down. You guys coming?"

"I'll come with you. We were waiting on you to eat, but it's been a while since we've seen everyone." Hinata said, gracefully sliding off the stool. As she moved, Sasuke's sharp eyes fixed on a bracelet identical to the one Naruto wore. A glance confirmed that Sai too wore a bracelet made of the same stones. He supposed it was a sort of team bonding, similar to the cloaks the three wore.

"No way am I going with you dickless. You're on your own." Sai said, turning back on his stool and ordering a bowl of ramen. Naruto aimed an ineffective glare at Sai's back, but then turned and set off in the direction of Chouji's favorite barbeque restaurant, followed by odd procession of quasi-prisoners and the Hyuuga heiress.

It wasn't hard to locate the group of ninja, who had more or less claimed the back two tables of the restaurant, and were loud besides. Sasuke surveyed the group of ninjas he had once known as Naruto pointed them out to his team and tried to explain the new group dynamics as they stood near the doorway.

"That blond kunoichi, that's Ino. She's a special jounin attached to the spy corps." Ino had her waist length blond hair in a pony-tail, making a clear contrast to her purple training outfit, which hadn't changed much since their genin days. "Chouji is the one eating barbeque like it could run away if he didn't catch it first." The heavy set boy hadn't changed much either, with burgundy clothing and a chestplate with his clan crest on it. His hair was longer, heightening his resemblance to his father. "Lee is the one in green." Lee had grown into an almost identical copy of his sensei, with his orange leg warmers and green spandex. It was almost frightening. "Shino is the one sitting in the corner not eating." The bug user was setting quietly in a form fitting hooded jacket and mask, all in black, with grey body armor, seemingly content with the company. It was obvious the two next to him were his team by the way they sat and interacted.

"Kiba and Tenten are next to him. Together they're the best tracker nins in the village, even though they don't have Hinata's Byakugan anymore. Their team designation is 地獄の番犬 (Hellhound)." Crouched next to the lean young man with the messy brown hair was one of the largest dogs Sasuke had ever seen. It didn't take the Sharingan to figure out it was Akamaru, with Kiba wearing the usual black gear and grey body armor that appeared to be usually concealed beneath the full length coat that lay crumbled on the seat next to him. It was the traditional buns that gave away the pretty girl sitting next him for Tenten, given that she too was wearing the standard black and grey.

"Well, let's go." Naruto said, preparing himself to take a step in the direction of the slightly intimidating crowd of ninja.

"Wait." Sasuke commanded. "People are missing."

"Oh, you mean Neji, Shikamaru, and Sakura? They're not missing. If they just got back from a mission, I have a pretty good idea where they are. Now come on, let's get this over with." With that, Naruto weaved his way through the busy restaurant, until he came to the two tables the ninja had claimed for their own. "Mission from Tsunade." He said without any explanation, tossing them the scroll.

"For who?" Ino inquired.

"Everyone. It has to do with Sasuke." Naruto explained.

"This isn't another 'rescue' mission, is it?," she asked irritably, "you nearly got my teammates killed on the first one."

"I'm right here. I was never in any need of rescuing." Sasuke said, coming up behind Naruto.

Ino looked him over with assessing eyes, but then seemed to dismiss the features she had once deemed so attractive. "Why all of us? Lee and Chouji are the only ones without a specialization for that sort of thing."

"Orders." Naruto said curtly, his fists clenching at the thought of the others rebelling against Sasuke's tentative return and reinstatement.

Ino sighed, seemingly resigning herself. "There's probably a big catch here to want so many of us. What is it?"

"We'll be living in the Uchiha district, in order to keep a better eye on his movements, even though she didn't specifically order a 24-hour watch." Naruto explained.

A collective sigh rose from the assembled group, along with some rather creative grumbling. "Fine, Naruto, I guess Akamaru and I are in." Kiba said.

"If Kiba's going along, I guess that means the rest of us in Hellhound will be there too." Tenten said, with Shino's nod of assent.

"As team leader, I suppose I should formally accept this mission." Shino said in his slightly raspy voice.

"I am in!," declared Lee with a great deal more enthusiasm than the others had shown. "This will be an exercise to be completed in the fire of my youth. It is very encouraging to see Sasuke's return. In honor of this, I will run five hundred laps around the village!" The green clad jounin leaped from the table and set off into the early night to do exactly that. The Konoha ninja didn't react at all to their odd comrade's actions, but Team Hawk watched him go with a look of incredulous surprise on their faces.

"Yeah, I guess I'm in too." Chouji said, returning his attention to his barbeque.

"Well," Ino said, sighing, "I guess that makes all of us."

"Not quite." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his neck in discomfort.

"Do the orders include them?" Tenten asked in an understanding tone.

"Yeah. Do you know how long they've been back? My team just got in yesterday." Naruto explained, grateful that someone else understood his plight.

"They got in this morning." Ino said authoritatively.

Naruto hung his head. Hinata placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. "I'll go with you Naruto-kun."

"Well, let's get this over with. It was in the statement that if they don't agree, the surveillance will be taken care of by the ANBU Root division." Naruto's hand clenched and his eyes appeared to flash crimson. "There's no way we're going to let Danzou get his hands on this."

Sasuke followed Naruto curiously as the blond nin led the way with all the enthusiasm of a man going to his own funeral. Just what could be so intimidating about the laziest ninja genius ever to grace Naruto, a fate obsessed branch member who happened to be more talented than his Main house equivalents, and the weakest link of Team Seven?

A/N: Well, what do you think? Worth continuing? I promise I won't let it interfere with updating my other stories. So please review and leave some feedback.


	2. Homecoming

Disclaimer: Naruto. I don't own it. However sad that may be.

A/N: All right, chapter two. Feedback is still appreciated. And, really, I know people may seem out of character, but an additional two years as ninja should inspire some growth and development. You may feel free to comment if you think I've taken it too far.

Fallen Night

-Chapter Two-

Homecoming

Shikamaru Nara was disappointed. As he lay stretched across the warm rocks near the natural hot spring, there were only stars in the clear stretch of sky he could observe through the rustling leaves of the tree that stretched its branches over the spring. No sluggishly traveling clouds to send his thoughts along with, no great fluffy collections of moisture to dull his quick mind into a pleasant haze. How very disappointing. He heard the soft sounds of his partners' slight movements in the springs themselves, which he had vacated in favor of the odd sensation of warm rock against his back and cool breeze caressing his skin.

His dark eyes closed in irritation as he felt the very obvious chakra signatures that approached the springs. A low grunt of irritation and a soft sigh from the springs crushed his mild hope that they existed only in his tired mind. Thoughts of a thousand ways he could escape the upcoming unpleasantness that would doubtless follow rushed through his mind, but while his mind was still quick, his body was sore and tired and not at all inclined to participate. He opened one eye to watch the approach of the blond ninja who held his respect but always seemed to bring trouble with him. When he caught sight of the crowd that Naruto had brought with him, that eye immediately snapped shut.

Naruto opened his mouth to begin his plea, but Shikamaru cut him off. "If Konoha isn't being attacked, no one's dying within the next five minutes, and no one is being massacred, we don't care." The lazy genius didn't even bother to open his eyes to deliver the statement.

"But, Sasuke's back!" Naruto protested.

"Does Tsunade-sama want him eliminated within the next five minutes? Because that's the only way we'd be interested." Another male voice sounded from the veil of steam on the hot springs, very casual in its pronouncement.

"Sakura-chan?" It was a weak plea aimed in the direction of the spring, but even to Sasuke's ears, Naruto didn't sound convinced that it would work.

"If he's not attacking Konoha, dying, or being massacred, go away." There was a short silence and then the apathetic voice spoke again, "I take back the last two. If he's not attacking Konoha, it's not worth my time. And if Tsunade or Danzou wanted him eliminated, they would send the mission scroll and we wouldn't be having this discussion so Naruto, go away."

"At least come see him?" Naruto pleaded. Most of the Twelve had come along, so there was quite the audience to this less than touching reunion scene.

There was a soft splashing sound as two bodies moved toward their audience. Shikamaru sat up from where he had been laying, the rocks putting him just above head height. He was wearing only a pair of loose dark green pants and his hair fell down across his shoulders, as opposed to his usual hairstyle. He leaped down lightly onto the grass, pulling down a matching green coat from a nearby tree branch. There was an elaborate pattern of deer and trees woven into the fabric, with shadowy patterns weaving themselves through the elegant design. "This is troublesome," he muttered to himself.

The remaining m embers of the Twelve came from behind the rocks a moment later, dripping softly onto the verdant green grass. Sasuke looked on at his former teammate as she stared back with opaque eyes. Her hair had grown out again, he noted. Her figure was still the slim and athletic one he remembered, as opposed to the more lush figures of Ino and Karin. She was clad in only black chest bindings and a pair of fitted black shorts, her dripping pink hair hanging down the length of back. Her emerald eyes reflected only the night sky and a sort of weariness, with no other emotion pulling through.

At her side stood the Hyuuga prodigy, whose hair matched Sakura's length in a sleek brown waterfall. His height made his strong, lithe frame all the more impressive, as did his eerie pearl eyes, without even the slight lavender pigmentation of his cousin. He wore the same loose pants in black that Shikamaru sported, giving them an impressive view of his physique.

For the moment they were ignored as Sakura donned a sleeveless white robe and Neji pulled on a sleeved version in crème. A great blue dragon that represented spring and curled itself around the black circle of the Haruno crest wove its way up the back of Sakura's, while there was a distinguished, featherlike pattern in crimson on Neji's. When they had arranged their clothing to their apparent satisfaction, they finally returned their attention back to Naruto's group.

"Well, introduce us Naruto, since you find this irritation necessary." Sakura said carelessly, running a hand through her dripping pink locks.

"This is Sasuke's team. Juugo, Karin, and Suigetsu." Naruto said. "Tsuanade wants us to move into the Uchiha district and keep an eye on them for a while."

Neji eyed the size of the group that had come with Naruto. "And why would that interest us? I didn't think this many ninja would be needed to keep an eye or four prisoners who appear to be cooperating willingly. Let someone else handle it."

Several ninja in the group bristled at the implication and Sasuke himself blinked. He was fairly sure that the Hyuuga hadn't been this, for lack of a better word, amused, like this whole situation was a vaguely amusing show put on for his benefit. The Hyuuga's head turned slightly, almost like he wanted them to go away so he could return to the steam cloaking the spring.

Karin didn't seem to be able to take the tension, snapping, "Well, if you knew half of what Sasuke-kun could do, you wouldn't be so surprised. And you have no idea what we're capable of, so don't be so arrogant."

Even Sasuke didn't see Shikamaru move, but he was suddenly standing behind Karin in his usual slouched posture, like smoke blown in an invisible breeze. Karin's hair moved from the nearness of his passing and she shivered involuntarily. Shikamaru's dark eyes remained dark and impassive, simply regarding the former Oto-nin from the corner of his eye, his body turned away from hers. "Troublesome." He stated simply, hands dug into his coat pockets.

"Who are these people?" Juugo asked Naruto quietly.

Naruto laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess I forget to introduce them. The one behind Karin is Shikamaru Nara, the other one is Neji Hyuuga, and the kunoichi is Sakura Haruno. Their team designation is倒れたナイト(Fallen Night). And…well…I guess they're attached to the ANBU Black Ops."

"You guess?" Suigetsu asked incredulously.

"I'm not really sure who they report to." Naruto admitted. Suigetsu turned a questioning eye on the group before him, but they ignored his unspoken question. Naruto returned his attention to the three ninja that he was trying to recruit to his cause. He knew it was bad form to approach the near legendary team when there was an unspoken agreement that they would not be approached the day following their return from a mission unless it was for another mission.

Or at least, he was fairly certain they would be near legendary, if their thoroughness on missions was the really legendary part. They were a dangerous combination, especially when something gained their interest. Of the new twelve, Naruto was the only one who was willing to go on missions with the three without the rest of his own team. Their methods tended to irritate the others and Naruto himself had been caught thinking of bashing his head against the nearest solid object when they were in one of their moods. Naruto swallowed nervously, playing the trump card the Hokage had lent him for this purpose.

"If you take this mission, Tsunade will open the Root archives to you." The three ninja froze; their attention suddenly as sharp and cutting as a kunai, but only a ninja who was familiar with them would be able to see the subtle shift in their posture, the amused haze clearing slightly from their eyes. The mention of Root caught Sasuke's attention as well, because he knew full well that Danzou ran it.

"Very well." Neji said, his voice even and his eyes locked in their subtle amusement, as if he could see through the ninja before him to his desperate core.

"Fine." Shikamaru responded, throwing his head back to gaze at the stars in deep contemplation.

Sakura's eyes glowed with banked fires, like a predatory animal in the dark. "Looks like you have us at your service then." A smirk stole across her face, making Naruto feel that it wasn't an experience he should be looking forward to.

"Now go away. We'll see you in the Uchiha district at dawn tomorrow. I have confidence you'll be able to manage one night of ninja sitting on your own." Neji said, pulling back off his yukata and returning to the waters of the spring.

"You're not coming now?" Karin asked sharply.

Sakura returned her gaze to the group of four from where it had been drifting to the springs. "There is no hot spring in the Uchiha district. Neither is there a desperate need for our presence there immediately. I'm certain that you'll be able to survive a little dust by yourself. " Karin blinked in confusion, but Naruto seemed to have gotten a subliminal message she had missed.

"Thanks." Naruto said curtly, walking away. Most of their procession split off to go their separate ways until it was once again Naruto and Team Hawk. Hinata would return once she packed some clothes for spending the night.

"No Kakashi?" Sasuke asked as they walked away.

"No." Naruto's blue eyes hardened, and for a moment flashed crimson. "Kakashi has been in a coma for the last two years."

It was obviously an off limit topic, so Sasuke tried a different approach to get his formerly chatty teammate talking. "I thought Sakura was a medic?" he asked, careful to inject just the right amount of curiosity into his question.

The flashing azure orbs seemed to be saddened by the question. "After she couldn't heal Kakashi, Sakura made a vow she would never heal anyone else until she had enough power to revive Kakashi. After the attack, Tsunade reorganized our teams. A lot of people died, including Chouji's father. Maybe she thought we needed a change." Naruto tilted his golden head to gaze at the star filled sky, continuing, "After that, I ended up with Hinata and Sai. Some of us drifted into specializations. For a while, Sakura, Neji, and Shikamaru looked like they would stay regular jounin, but then something happened. Then they became Fallen Night, that's all."

"What did that girl mean about the spring?" Juugo asked softly.

"Ah, that's just what they do after a mission. They usually don't like to be bothered for a while. I heard the last one they were on was particularly nasty. They'll go back to their compound and drink tea after a while, and do something boring like watch cherry blossoms falling into rivers or the sunrise." Naruto answered diffidently, leading them to the gates of the Uchiha district.

"They live together?" Sasuke asked in vague disbelief, ignoring the burning stab that had come with the realization. It only proved that he needed to work at keeping his bonds broken, nothing more.

"Mm." Naruto murmured. "We'll wait for my team here."

"Won't you need clothes or something?" Karin asked as Naruto leaned against the gate, staring in the direction of the Hokage monument.

"Nah, Hinata will grab some. She lives next door."

"Not in the Hyuuga compound?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

Naruto laughed, a warm, genuine sound, the like of which Sasuke hadn't heard in a long time. "Well, it's sorta Tenten's fault. She and Kiba got apartments next to each other and kinda forced Shino to move too. After that, Hyuuga-sama invested in a small complex with several units and let Hinata, Sai, and me move in. Hinata had wanted to move out of the Hyuuga complex for a while, just to see what it was like, and Hyuuga-sama felt like that was the best way for her to move out and still be safe. Then," his lips parting in a grin, obviously recalling a fond memory, "Sakura, Neji, and Shikamaru had to beat us all and picked up a vacant compound from a wealthy merchant clan whose last member had just died off."

Sasuke ignored the way the knot of tension that dwelled in his chest unclenched as Naruto casually revealed that it was as teammates that Sakura found herself in the company of the Hyuuga and Nara.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata's soft cry brought their attention to where the dark haired kunoichi had landed silently.

"Sai coming?" Naruto asked.

"No, he said he thought we would be fine on our own." Hinata answered, a blush tinting her cheeks as she peered at Sasuke's team. Suigetsu didn't help by leering at her.

"All right." Naruto straightened, turning to enter the empty district, passing beneath the tattered banners that still bore the Uchiha crest. "Let's get this started."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-

It was before dawn the next morning and the Uchiha district was mostly still, except in the practice fields. Hinata dodged another vicious swipe at her midsection, one that might have been critical had it made contact. Her Byakugan was an advantage, but few people had an edge on Naruto Uzumaki, especially when he was infuriated with the kind of cold rage that Hinata was now attempting to counter.

His expressive eyes were cold pools, not even hinting at the next lunge he would make. They had drifted out here moments after Lee had arrived bearing his things, before Sasuke and his team had even risen. It was only through watching the movement of his chakra for minute shifts that she could predict when he intended to move, something only Neji and herself seemed able to accomplish. Of course, Hinata had little idea just how far her cousin's skills had advanced. She hadn't sparred with him for nearly two years, ever since she had been transferred to Naruto's team.

He was a good captain; even if he had just made her bend her spine in ways that she wasn't sure the human body was designed to do. She took advantage of his extended arm to swiftly seal a few of his chakra points before she was forced to spring away to avoid his counter. She was actually quite grateful that he wasn't using his shadow clones. Hinata was one of the few he trusted enough to fully lose his temper around, but she knew that the temper he was displaying now wasn't even a fraction of what he must be feeling.

"Stupid Sasuke-teme." Hinata was forced to counter a wave of shuriken and be grateful this match was limited to taijutsu. She dropped below his guard, using her greater flexibility, but he managed to dodge at the last second. He returned the favor by forcing her to defend herself from a kunai that appeared in his hand and flicked outward like a snake striking.

"After everything, to stand there looking so smug. I'd like to bash his face in for what he did to us. But no," Naruto snarled viscously, bringing his leg around for a bruising kick that might have snapped the spine of a lesser ninja, "because he's special. We. Have. To. Watch. Him." Every word was punctuated by a strike, each more swift than the last.

"But, Naruto-kun, isn't this you wanted?" Hinata asked, barely keeping up with the furious pace he was setting. A part of her understood, but a greater part was curious as to what about this conclusion inspired such fury when Naruto had labored so long to obtain it.

He froze, his shoulders dropping, all his rage draining away. "Not like this. Not like this. There's something wrong, I can almost smell it." His sky filled eyes were flowing with an emotion Hinata hadn't seen him wear in a long time: desperation. "And I can't find out why. I don't want to find out. I'm afraid, Hinata, that I might have to choose. Between my best friend and my village. I don't know if I can make that choice."

Hinata's heart hurt for the one she had watched so long. His rigid body didn't even relax as she gathered him into an embrace, resting her dark head against the hardness of his chest, feeling the smoothness of the crimson cloak he wore. There were no words that she could find to give him, so she simply shared her warmth in the dim light of the growing dawn.

"I wonder what Sakura-chan would do?" Naruto murmured. But they both knew the answer to that. The Sakura they knew was a different person from the one who had known Sasuke so long ago. Something had happened when Sakura had realized that her healing abilities, the only thing she had felt she had to offer, wouldn't be able to save Kakashi, even though his breathing body still lay at her fingertips. No matter how much of her chakra she had poured into that still body his spirit had danced just beyond her reach. Naruto had been there as the sparkling emerald eyes that had survived the betrayal of the one she thought she loved changed.

A desperate hunger had awakened there, one that he had felt was so familiar, yet couldn't place. It wasn't until he returned to his dingy apartment that evening and caught sight of his face in a mirror that he recognized them. They were his eyes, the eyes that looked desperately for the power to rescue those precious to him. In short order Sakura resigned as an active member of the medic core, instead pulling away from them so completely that for a while they were sure that they would lose her too.

But she hadn't quit. Instead, she had trained herself until she had reached her limits, and then she shattered them. Naruto knew she was still looking, still developing jutsus, ones she hoped would bring Kakashi back, but she hadn't succeeded yet. Her new willingness to take advantage of her chakra control and a nearly foreign desire to experiment had led to the creation of several jutsu unique to Sakura alone. He had been on a few missions with her since then, but he knew she was better off with Neji and Shikamaru. But he would always be her closest friend, no matter how far off she seemed or how far she went.

But he had once that the same about Sasuke too. And now Sasuke had returned of his own will, but Naruto had faced him too many times to think it would end this easily. He knew the choice Sakura would make, but that offered little comfort. "Hey, Hinata, you want to go see if they're going to come?" He felt Hinata nod into his chest, then she detached herself. He gave her a weary smile. "Thanks Hinata. I don't know what I would do without you."

Hinata blushed, but she had stopped fainting with every praise Naruto offered her. "It's fine, Naruto-kun."

Both elite ninja disappeared into the early morning mist, the Hyuuga heiress and the future Hokage coming to rest at the gate of the large compound of that housed the strange threesome that could almost be said to set the genius standard in Konoha.


	3. Enter the Sun: Breakfast

Disclaimer: See the title bar at the top of the screen? Notice how it says Fanfiction? So obviously I don't own Naruto. I'd be a very sad person if I did and was lurking around writing fanfiction of my own work.

A/N: All right here it is, another chapter. Feedback is always appreciated, and I thank everyone who has already reviewed this story.

Fallen Night

-Chapter Three-

Enter the Sun: Breakfast

Naruto knocked at the gates of the traditionally styled compound. Within a few moments, they swung open, admitting the two elite ninja inside. The disappearing figure of a stately old woman in an elaborate kimono gave answer to who had opened the gate. She was the live-in help that kept the house in order when his friends were away, but Naruto rarely saw her while he visited. Hinata followed him as he made his way through rooms that elegantly displayed items brought from distant countries visited in missions. He knew he wouldn't find the people he was looking for in them, no matter that the sun hadn't even properly risen yet.

There was a wide field out behind the compound, far from the gardens and just behind a screen of trees that served as a practice area, but Naruto sensed the chakra of his targets in a different direction. His steps led him to a small porch, where, just out of the way of the dew a low couch housed Shikamaru. He was sleeping fully dressed, in the same dark pants as he had worn at the hot springs, but this time he actually had a fitted black long-sleeved shirt on and his hair was bound up in its spiky tail again. His arm pillowed his head and he snored gently, with his green coat draped gently over him like a blanket. A shogi board, its pieces settled halfway into a match, lay on a stand beside his head.

The other people he was searching for were beyond the enclosed area. Both were more fully dressed today as well. Neji's crème and burgundy robes were worn closed over a sleeveless black shirt with a mandarin collar, a thin silver inner robe, and loose black trousers. A patterned black sash that depicted silvery stylized raptors in flight was worn under the thin crimson cord that had been tied so that the heavy knot fell to one side, providing a convenient loop through which an ANBU-standard katana had been inserted.

Sakura wore a black robe with a cherry blossom pattern, over which the white sleeveless one was worn, both open, under which she wore a matching black sleeveless shirt, loose pants, and black sandals. A blue sash that exactly matched the royal blue shade of the dragon pattern on her outer robe was tied in an elaborate knot at her waist and was allowed to fall in a graceful spill until it would have nearly brushed the ground, had she been standing. Neji's long hair was controlled by a tie at its end, like he had worn it for all of his youth. Sakura's hair, which had been short for so long, was pulled into a rather elaborate knot, which was really just an excuse to store senbon there to keep it in place.

They sat on the still surface of a koi pond, under which the golden and red fish darted energetically. Both were sitting quietly, sipping on steaming cups of tea apparently poured from the tea service which sat to one side of the pond. Naruto knew that while they appeared to be dressed for a tea ceremony or something similar, they were really in their full combat garb, as unpractical as it seemed. The area was gently lit with small lights, creating a soothing effect. Naruto coughed gently, though he knew that all three knew he was there.

"Today seems to be our day for guests." Neji observed, not even bothering to turn his gaze towards his friend.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, cocking his head inquiringly.

"Ino was here earlier." Sakura explained her voice placid. "She wanted to know when we'd get there. She's probably arrived already. She wanted to make breakfast. So what's the state of the district?" Sakura inquired her voice still in that irritatingly calm tone that she had before she imbibed her morning cup of tea. Before Neji and Sakura enjoyed their little morning ritual, both were doubly dangerous.

This water garden was a beautiful place, Naruto noted, no matter how many times he had been here. "It's dusty, but luckily the estate has been paying for D-rank missions to keep it in good condition."

Sakura finished her cup of tea and the mask of shallow amusement began to leak into her bright emerald orbs. It was reflected in Neji's eyes too, so Naruto knew he had finished as well.

"Well, I guess we have to go." Hinata gave a little squeak of surprise as Shikamaru's lazy voice sounded behind them. Neither had noticed him wake.

"Yeah, everyone else is probably arriving. It's a good thing nobody's on mission right now. Everyone's here." Naruto commented.

"Probably won't be for long. There's a coup happening in Cloud and the rival factions are looking to cause trouble." Neji commented, collecting the tray and Sakura's cup and heading back towards the house.

"I hadn't heard that." Naruto commented. "Last I heard Cloud was pretty stable."

"They don't know it yet." Sakura explained cheerfully, a little smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.

Naruto paled a little. "You guys are scary."

"What makes you say that?" Neji was amused now, made clear in every line of his expression as the tray was placed on the other table with a slight clink of rattling china.

It was there in Shikamaru too, but he simply muttered his byword and shook his head. "Let's go you two." He said, wandering off in a slow shuffle. Nonetheless, it didn't take long for their party to find their way back to the gate. Somewhere along the way the three had mysteriously acquired bags and scrolls, which had been laid on random tables spread along their path.

"Does your housekeeper know which way you always take to the front door?" Hinata asked curiously, for the items hadn't been there as they entered and they had wound through several rooms that weren't directly in line with leaving the confusing compound. The merchant family who had it built had apparently acquired their fortune through less than honest means, and their paranoia had crafted a sprawling house with halls that led nowhere and rooms within rooms.

"No. She just puts our gear out randomly and whatever we pick up on our way out is what we have to use for the mission. It's more fun that way." Naruto, once the king of unpreparedness himself, blanched at the thought of randomly collecting gear and seeing if he could complete a mission with it. Hinata was of the opinion that it only confirmed the rumors that her cousin and friends had gone crazy, to sound so excited about something that would have gotten lesser ninjas killed long ago.

After they left, Hinata and Naruto prepared to use a teleportation jutsu, but the three members of Fallen Night wandered onto the streets of Konoha and the two friends had no choice but to follow. It was one of the many irritations that came with working with them. They never seemed to hurry for anything, yet always managed to show up exactly at the appointed time. Naruto grit his teeth as they walked, not running or leaping along the rooftops. "Hey Sakura, are you going to be okay with this?" His irritation made him lose all the subtlety he had gained with age.

"Why wouldn't I be Naruto?" Her smile was bright and cheerful, more relaxed and genuine that the person he had seen at the spring last night. "Isn't this what you wanted?" That was twice this morning that he had been questioned about that. While he could admit his insecurities to Hinata, admitting it in front of Fallen Night and his pink-haired former comrade was different.

"Yeah." He muttered, not looking at Sakura. "I guess so." The rest of their journey was conducted in silence, but just as the first rays of dawn finished breaking over the horizon they arrived at the gates of the Uchiha district. Naruto shot them a glance. "We walked just so you guys could show up exactly at dawn, didn't we?"

"Yes." Neji answered and Naruto's head fell.

_To admit such a thing…_ Hinata was forced to stifle a giggle at the comic dejection of Naruto's expression, but it was soon put away and replaced with the cheer that served Naruto as a mask just as much as the one he wore on missions. "Well, come on." Naruto led the way back into the district, but he didn't bother to show the three around. He had no doubt that this probably wasn't their first trip here.

A moment later Naruto was tackled into the dust by an enthusiastic form, which the Konoha nin recognized immediately as Akamaru. "Guess Kiba's already here too." Naruto muttered with disgust as he levered the enormous dog off of him. "I swear Kiba tells him to do that." Akamaru wagged his tail, almost like he was affirming the statement. "Are we still hanging around the main house?" Akamaru actually nodded before trotting off in the direction of the house they had stayed in last night.

"Well," Naruto turned around to comment to his entourage, but he blinked when he saw only Hinata was still standing there. "They wandered off again, didn't they?" Hinata looked around in confusion, not having realized that her companions had disappeared.

"Nah. That'd be troublesome." Shikamaru's voice made him look up, where all three were sprawled like some crazed gargoyles across the peak of a nearby roof. "Didn't want to miss the sunrise." He explained in that lackadaisical voice that made Naruto really want to hurt something.

"Hey, this is an important mission! Get down here!" Naruto demanded, but he was aware it was a futile effort, even as the words left his mouth.

Sakura spared him a glance over one shoulder. "They aren't going anywhere Naruto. Come on Hinata; come watch the sunrise with us. Naruto's a little too uptight to enjoy it right now. He can come too once he calms down." Naruto marched off towards the main house in disgust. Hinata gazed up nervously at the three nin. "Coming Hinata?" Sakura asked again. Hinata nervously shook her head before disappearing after Naruto.

Once their two fellow nins had disappeared, the casual expressions melted momentarily, as the members of Fallen Night exchanged a glance. "What do you think the Uchiha's agenda is?" Neji asked, his tone serious and his eyes watchful even as his facial expression shifted back into one of casual relaxation. But the momentary slip revealed that the stoic and serious nin that had been Neji still existed behind the mask of carelessness that so threw their enemies off guard.

"I don't know." There was frustration fairly emanating from the pink-haired kunoichi who was sitting at his side, but anyone out of hearing range wouldn't have guessed it from the faint smile that graced her face. "It's worrisome that we didn't receive news of his intended return first. We'll have to check with our informants again. What do you say Shikamaru?"

Both of the dark-haired genius's friends watching him from the corner of their eyes as he stretched, relieving the tension in his muscles. "I don't know either, but he seemed very interested last night when Naruto mentioned the Root archives. The game board has been set up, but I don't know what game they're playing yet. We'll just have to watch."

"Are you going to be okay, Sakura?" Neji asked, returning his gaze to the rising sun.

"I'm a member of Fallen Night. I'll be fine. This isn't like last time. There isn't a Team Seven anymore." Her voice was slightly bitter, one of acceptance of something she wished could be otherwise. "That isn't the Sasuke who was my teammate. We've all changed. I hope Sasuke realizes that. He always did have a habit of underestimating his enemy." The last part was murmured into fabric as she drew her knees up in front of her face.

"We're here for you Sakura." Neji didn't move in her direction or make any indication, but his voice was as warm as the comforting embrace that Naruto would have given her to assuage her doubts.

"Besides, we are Fallen Night. The only one who stands a chance against us is Naruto, and he doesn't even count anymore." Sakura giggled at Shikamaru's wry statement, which was the truth of it. They all wondered what Sasuke would do when he discovered his dead last rival really was the favored candidate to succeed the Hokage.

"How long do you think it'll be before the next mission?" Shikamaru asked his teammates as they waited for the sun to finish its slow ascent.

"Not long. I think it worries the elders to keep us here in the village too long. Especially now that we've been granted access to the Root archives." Neji replied.

"I hope we get to go to Mist. There's a certain scroll I want to have a look at there. I wonder if shishou would let me request a mission?" Sakura wondered aloud.

"Nah. You know she can't do that. The elders already accuse her of favoring the Twelve. She can't endanger her position for us." Shikamaru slid down the roof a little until he could lay back and stretch out, like a lazy cat greeting the sun.

There was a mischievous quality in Neji's sideways smile as he responded, "We could always petition the elders directly again." Both his partners snickered at the memory of the last time the elders had called the trio before them. Now they tended to let Fallen Night serve Konoha in its own way, just as they a certain cautious leniency to their attitude when dealing with any of the ninja of their generation.

Sakura's smile fell again and she said quietly, "The sun has risen." Without a word the three Konoha ninja disappeared off their rooftop perch, without even a breeze to advertise they had ever existed.

Meanwhile, when Naruto entered the main house he caught the scent of breakfast as he entered the door. With Hinata still following behind him, he entered the kitchen, where he found Ino and Lee hard at work.

Ino looked up as they walked in and Lee called out an enthusiastic greeting. Ino spoke, "Naruto, Hinata, we pretty much have this covered, but if wouldn't mind you could set the table. You'll have to wash everything first though, most of its pretty dusty. Shedding her outer cloak, Hinata advanced first, filling up the sink while Naruto gathered the tableware.

"How many do we need?" Naruto complained as he deposited more plates into the sudsy water, before he too abandoned his cloak and carried Hinata's and his own into a nearby room and threw them over the back of a chair.

"Don't know." Ino admitted. "Chouji will probably show up when we get it on the table. I swear that boy has a sixth sense. Sai dropped by earlier, but he disappeared again after that. I think he's off painting somewhere in the district. He'll probably be back. Shino's team had an early mission this morning, but they'll be back in time for lunch."

"Only a B-class huh? Is that why Kiba left Akamaru here? Bet Kiba and Tenten were disappointed." Naruto commented while he dried dishes and placed them on the table.

"Yeah. But Kiba was too bored to complain too much about it. He just wanted to do something other than sit around here. He said Akamaru was doing his part of the watching for him." Ino explained.

"Tell us, Naruto, Hinata, will our youthful comrades be joining us for the meal we have prepared in the fires of our youth?" Lee asked.

"Well, they came in the gates, but they wanted to watch the sunrise." Hinata said thoughtfully.

"They'll be here later then." Ino sighed. "Better set plates for them anyway. I swear Shikamaru, you are just as troublesome as you say everything else is." Her voice lowered, so that only those in the kitchen could hear it. "I checked my sources last night again, just in case there was something I missed. There were no reports of much unusual activity, from Akatsuki or otherwise. Whatever Sasuke-kun is planning, it looks like it'll be just him and his team on the inside at this point."

When Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, she snorted. "He's attractive, but I've met a lot of attractive bastards in what I do. Don't insult me by thinking I'm some love-struck genin anymore. I'm good at what I do Naruto. I know you don't want to believe it, but I think Sasuke's up to something."

Naruto's eyes leveled with Ino's own blue eyes. "I know. I'm not the idiot I was either. And I respect you enough to know you're scary when you're in spy mode. You can bet that everyone in the Twelve has picked up on it. All we can do is making sure Sasuke still thinks we're falling for his little act and wait for him to make his first move."

"So that's the real reason Kiba left Akamaru." Hinata said thoughtfully. "Shino's probably got this place bugged too. They're establishing a surveillance pattern."

Naruto brought his fist down on the counter with a gentle thump. "But I can't stand the feeling of just setting around and waiting for something to happen. We have to try to get Sasuke back for real."

Ino looked at him, fist on one hip, head cocked in a questioning manner. "And what do you think we can do? It's a little but different than going out and beating the crap out of him and bringing him back."

"But Ino-chan," Hinata pointed out, "isn't this your specialty?"

"Nah. I've never been interested in brainwashing people beyond what my jutsu lets me do. I don't like the idea of that kind of power. That's why I didn't go into the interrogation unit, even though Ibiki thought I was talented enough for it."

"But you can. You have jutsu that'll do it." Lee said, his method direct as usual.

"Yeah, but what's the point? And it only works in the weak willed anyway. That's one thing Sasuke-kun isn't." Ino flicked her bangs irritably from in front of her eye.

"Maybe…" Hinata began hesitantly, "maybe if we let him back in, he'll remember what it is to be a Konoha ninja and stop whatever he's doing."

Naruto shot her a grateful smile that made her blush. For all of his new observation skills, one thing that continued to escape him was Hinata's attraction to him, even though he spent more time with her than anyone else. "Yeah, maybe. But Ino, make sure to listen closely for a while. We don't want to end up with a surprise we aren't prepared to counter." Ino looked rather offended that Naruto thought she would have to be told, but her eyes softened when she realized just how worried the hunter-nin was about the whole thing.

"Well, it looks like the Uchiha's finally up." The voice made the four elite nin jump, falling into defensive positions and spinning to look for the intruder. They all sighed in relief and irritation when their survey revealed the members of Fallen Night, already sitting neatly around the far end of the table. The voice had been Neji's, positioned as he was to one side of Shikamaru, with Sakura sitting on the other.

"He's gotten quite slack." Sakura agreed. "Must be nostalgia." She took a sip from a teacup that was sitting on a tea service in front of them. Naruto's jaw dropped. He could have sworn that same set had been sitting tucked in a cabinet not half a minute ago, but now it was cleaned and three cups were filled to the brim with some pale tea he didn't recognize.

"How…When?" He asked weakly.

"Tea no jutsu." Shikamaru told him seriously. Hinata grabbed him around the waist to stop his headlong lunge at the pineapple head. It was that scene that Sasuke and the rest of his team walked in on with bleary eyes.

"Well, it certainly looks like you're having fun, Naruto." Sasuke observed from where he had stopped to lean on the door.

"And it looks like you haven't lost your penchant for dramatic entrances, Uchiha." Neji observed levelly as Hinata stopped a second lunge that was aimed in the clan member's direction.

Sasuke eyed the pearl eyed boy with intense dislike, but opted not to respond to his comments. Instead he settled for taking seat as far from him as he could manage, with the rest of his team wandering in and settling next to him.

"Hey, you're kinda cute." Suigetsu teased Ino as she filled his plate and sat it back before him.

Ino eyed the shark boy critically for a moment. "You're not too bad either, but you're not my type. Try Hinata." The blue-haired kunoichi blushed deeply at her blond friend's comment.

Suigetsu laughed, especially as he caught sight of the figure that the enveloping cloak hid. His laughter stopped abruptly as someone dropped down next to him. It was Naruto, who gave him a predatory, fox-like grin. One that clearly said, make Hinata uncomfortable and you're dead. The gesture made Hinata smile faintly as she settled herself next to her teammate. Even if he couldn't pick up on her subtle signals, his protective instincts still were touching.

Looking for someone to tease as he picked up his chopsticks and began eating, his eyes alighted on the pink haired kunoichi seated at the other end of the table. "Hey, Juugo," he murmured to the large man who looked a little uncomfortable among so many people, "what was Pinky's name again?"

Juugo glanced up from his plate and snuck a quick glance down the table. "Sakura. Her name was Sakura."

Suigestsu snorted and rolled his eyes. "Sakura. How unimaginative." He decided that she might not be that much fun, especially since the guy with the creepy pupil less eyes had taken to examining him. He guessed it was a kekkai genkai, as the blue haired girl had similar eyes, but hers were a little less disturbing for some reason.

Something squelched, which attracted the attention of all the ninja at the table. As they watched, a slug made its way onto the table near Karin, promptly enlarging itself until it was the size of a large cat. With a squeal the girl slung herself backwards, and even Suigetsu flinched. When it proceeded to produce a scroll from its mouth, he commented, "That's disgusting man." The slugs eye stalks rotated towards him and gave him a very dirty look before it poofed out of existence. Naruto picked up the mission scroll and after quickly examining the outside, tossed it down the table, where Shikamaru caught it deftly,

With a neat flick, the scroll was unrolled and displayed for his teammates.

"Yes!" Sakura said excitedly. "We're going back to Mist!"

"Hey, you're going to Mist? Where? What for?" Suigestsu inquired curiously.

In the same tone of voice that she had announced the mission with such excitement, Sakura replied, "They have some really excellent ginko tea there."

Suigetsu blinked as the three ninja at the end of the table disappeared in a swirl of cherry tree leaves and sakura petals, filling the room with an illusion of the scent of cherry trees. A moment later Naruto yelled, "Hey, they took the tea set!" From their position in the doorway they had just entered, Sai and Chouji could only sigh before joining the others for breakfast.


	4. The World Moves Past

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, then I'd be in possession of both Neji and Itachi. And sadly, that is not true and never will be. (Stifles pathetic sob.)

Author's Note: Long delay, but I've finally updated. Please read and review, because feedback is always appreciated.

-Fallen Night-

Chapter Four

Somewhere in Mist:

It was a small village, overlooked by nearby hills and surrounded by forests with no near neighbors. Its streets had an air of disuse and an aura of disease and decay seemed to make the air heavier than the blanket of fog that shrouded the entire vista warranted. Three shadowed figures stood on the hill nearest the village proper, none of them speaking for the moment, simply observing.

"Another one." The voice that broke the weighty silence was laconic, as if the act of speaking was itself a taxing trial.

"Hm." Another male voice, this one absent of any emotion at all.

"No survivors."

After the last figure finished speaking, two of the figures broke away, slipping through the fog as if they themselves were but smoke on the wind. When they reached the rough center of clustered buildings, they stopped and stood back to back until their shadows blended into one.

The second voice spoke again. "Phoenix Form: Four Tails jutsu." The two figures began to spin, each in time with the other, until an impenetrable shield of chakra surrounded them. The third voice's owner began to make hand signs, finally stopping on a familiar and dangerous one. With a breath the surface of the shield was covered in flames that glowed white hot and spread in feather-like patterns out from the surface.

The rate of rotation increased, bringing the shield in closer, but driving the intensity of the chakra and the flames higher. Finally, after a long, building moment the spinning of the people within stopped. The white-hot sun they had built around themselves lingered for a moment, before spreading outward with a roar, consuming everything in its path. It ate through the water-soaked wood like it was paper, not giving the inhabitants time even to scream as it turned bone to ash in its greedy journey.

The intensity of the fire was such that the earth itself turned to a thin layer of volcanic rock as the flames passed and the fog became a roiling mass of steam. For a moment it seemed as if the flames would continue their destruction in the forest beyond, but a well timed chain of explosion raised the earth in a wide circle around the village, leaving nothing for the fire to consume. The flames, having already consumed everything within the ring's perimeter, died out, until there remained only the two figures standing on top of the small patch of dirt that was all that remained of the original village.

Back in Konoha:

Naruto scowled. It had been two days since Sasuke had returned and he had yet to leave the compound, seemingly content to wait out the rumors and glances that had accompanied the news of his return. The blond nin looked around, but there wasn't much to be seen to amuse from his leafy perch in the tree he was currently occupying, unless he was inclined to watch Sasuke practice his swordplay at the end of the dock.

As a hunter-nin the patience Naruto normally was required to possess was limited to however long it took to hunt his prey and dispose of the corpses. Only tracker-nin like Shino, Kiba, and Tenten had to worry about returning their targets alive. Sitting around watching Sasuke's team train wasn't included on the very short list. Tugging at a blond fringe in mild annoyance, Naruto wished that Shino's team would return, so that he could take another mission.

Naruto was here watching Sasuke, while Chouji was taking care of the surveillance of the others. Lee was on a short escort mission in Tea, Ino was doing spymasterly things somewhere that Naruto wasn't allowed to know, Sakura and her team were off doing things Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to know, and even Hinata and Sai were out. Sai was still vaguely attached to Root, so he occasionally disappeared when there was downtime between missions. It was more unusual for Hinata to be sent on her own, given that she either worked with the full team or was accompanied by Naruto himself, but her kekkai genkai had been specially requested and she was the most capable user of it outside of Neji.

Naruto had full confidence in Hinata and her abilities, but there always existed that vague worry that he wouldn't be there to protect her if she needed it. But it was something he had learned to accept with time, just as he had learned that Sakura had bloomed beyond the need for his care. Naruto sighed, dismissing thoughts of his favorite girls and leaped to the ground, landing so softly he barely bent the grass beneath his feet.

"Hey Sasuke-teme! Are you going to do anything more interesting than that, or you gonna mope around all day again?" Naruto asked, setting his back against the hard bark of the tree. Sasuke shot him a dark glare, but his steady movements didn't still. Naruto rolled his eyes. As he stood there a small grin worked itself across his face.

In a single smooth movement Naruto extended his hand in Sasuke's direction, following the movement with a strong burst of chakra that produced a wind gust so strong that it ripped up a few loose boards from the dock and sent an off-balance Sasuke tripping into the water. The ends of his lips pulled down into a frown when Sasuke had the presence of mind to catch himself before more than his calves and a hand that had been thrown out for balance were soaked.

"Naruto." The dark aura that fairly radiated off his words made a sly grin climb back onto Naruto's face.

"Pretty gusty out today, huh, Sasuke-teme?" Naruto snickered, his crimson cloak billowing as he leaped out of the way of a blast of fire. "I don't know if you realize this, Sasuke-teme, but you got lame while you were away."

His blood-tinted garment billowed again, but it wasn't the result of his own moment. Naruto's grin widened, pulling his whisker marks into a fox-like visage. Sasuke had used his inhuman quickness to bring himself until he was arm's length away, the cold steel of his blade gently caressing the side of Naruto's neck. "Shut up, dead last."

Naruto calmly brought his hand up to the steel, pushing the blade away. Sasuke didn't resist the movement, for he felt his point had been made. He was aware the demon host was baiting him, as if he had never left. However, he hadn't realized that Naruto's element was wind and that he had developed his control of it to such an extent. It was valuable information and if the cost of it was a little water and a blow to his dignity, he would pay it willingly.

So he humored Naruto. "What do you want?"

"You got boring too, Sasuke-teme. Let's go do something." Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically.

Sasuke considered the advantages and disadvantages of abandoning his practice. He had been waiting patiently to dispel any suspicion about his return, but this opportunity to gain intelligence on his former village was too valuable to pass up. "All right." Sheathing his sword, he strode off towards the gate without another word.

Karin's abnormal ability to sense chakra was apparently still functioning, for she appeared from one of the doors as Sasuke's intent became clear. "Where are you going, Sasuke-kun?" she asked curiously.

"Hn." Was her answer, but it didn't appear to dampen her enthusiasm. Instead she scurried out the door and quickly proceeded to invade Sasuke's personal space until she had managed to more or less drape herself over him.

Naruto shook his head, deciding not to comment, but his sly grin didn't abate. Soon the three found themselves on the bustling streets of Konoha, a distinct contrast to the empty streets and homes that the Uchiha district consisted of. When Sasuke paused and sent Naruto an inquiring glance, ignoring all the glances that the villagers were directing his way, Naruto assumed the lead.

Naruto spent the day introducing Karin and Sasuke to the Twelve's favorite places. That included Chouji's barbeque place, Ino's public garden with the specialty orchid displays, Shikamaru's grassy hillside for cloud watching, Lee's training ground, Tenten's weapon provider, Sakura and Neji's teahouse, Kiba's park, as well as the deep patch of bug infested forest that Shino favored. In order to make up for taking Karin to the latter, he also introduced her to the bug master's favorite ice cream shop, where a strawberry and chocolate chip cone did a great deal to alleviate the trauma.

But Sasuke also noted what he didn't show. Naruto failed to point out where anyone lived, where their shinobi were trained, where the official buildings were. In short, it was a tour that he could give to any foreign shinobi, one that said something about the nin's personal preferences but little else. He supposed he had underestimated Naruto. Sasuke's obsidian eyes narrowed. His next effort would be to get Naruto to challenge him to a practice match, where he would be able to more accurately judge the new limits Naruto had built for himself.

Naruto, for his part, was using every smidgen of fox cunning that he could dredge up to entertain them without giving anything important away. Along with patience, subtlety was something he had never really had to develop either, because there was nothing subtle about a kunai to the heart. He watched as the fathomless black depths of Sasuke's eyes drew in details from his surroundings and could almost hear the continuous calculations taking place.

They were passing the gate in returning to the Uchiha district when Naruto was saved any further pain by Ino, who quickly assumed his former position and left him to his own devices. For a little while Naruto simply stood at the gate, staring into the deep forest beyond it, allowing painful memories of a desperate chase through that same forest to surface.

His train of thought was broken when he caught sight of three familiar figures out of the corner of his eye. Their too amused expressions immediately put him on edge, the slight burns on the ends of Sakura's fingers and the slightly crisped edges of their clothing, as well as the layer of dust that had settled over Shikamaru's cloak telling their own story. There were scents as well, discernable to his hyper-sensitive nose, scents of explosives and fire. He had only seen their 'containment' jutsu once, but it was enough that he could recognize it every time.

They brushed past him like ghosts. Naruto turned his face away.

In the office of the Hokage:

Tsunade carefully took in the sight of the three ANBU Black Ops members who had assembled before her. They looked particularly edgy, which meant the information they had received two days ago was correct. "Another outbreak?"

Sakura always took it on herself to deliver these reports, with Neji and Shikamaru adding the details they thought were pertinent. "Yes. Our informant's information was correct. The disease had already spread. We contained it and checked nearby settlements for early signs."

Tsunade paled and wished desperately for a drink. This was the fourth such incident. Each of the first three had been isolated incidents, almost if someone was testing the debilitating strain of disease. Each of the settlements had been totally razed. No one had been allowed to survive and carry the disease elsewhere. The only positive was that it struck quickly, leaving little time for people to escape and spread the epidemic elsewhere. She almost didn't want to ask. "And?"

"Another isolated incident." Sakura paused for a moment, her emerald orbs going a little glassy. "The corpses were in advanced stages of decay."

Tsunade blanched further and actually reached under her desk to lay a hand on the comforting bottle of sake that rested there. "It's moving faster then."

Shikamaru nodded. "Whoever is doing this is breeding this for a specific purpose. It would have to be a medic-nin of considerable talent and knowledge."

"It goes without being said that something like this could wreck chaos on threat alone. Entire countries could be subdued with this sort of weapon." Neji contributed.

Tsunade's hand tightened around the neck of the bottle until she was almost sure it would shatter. "Have you discovered any signs of who might be the cause of this?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "We have some ideas." He said casually.

Tsunade closed her hazel eyes and counted to ten, reminding herself that these were some of her most talented operatives and killing them wouldn't help anyone. "You realize that this is has become a matter of some urgency."

All three of her shinobi nodded, seemingly humoring her. Tsunade's eyes narrowed. While the rather formally robed shinobi had been standing at attention when this report began, their attention had since seemingly wandered. Neji was peering out the window of her office, Shikamaru had sprawled in one of the chairs reserved for guests, and Sakura was the only one left standing in the center of the floor. Tsunade sighed, letting go of her irritation. After all, despite their eccentric tendencies it was only a coping mechanism that all shinobi eventually developed. Her eyes narrowed again as the thougth came to her that most of her shinobi weren't this irritating about it though. It was one thing to be calm in the midst of battle, another to be nonchalant about something that might develop into a national crisis.

"You will pursue those leads immediately?"She asked forcefully.

"Mmm." The sound Sakura made didn't really sound like agreement. It masqueraded as agreement in order to placate a somewhat irate Hokage, but Tsunade needed to confirm.

"As in right now?" Tsunade made sure to emphasize her words, as if she were dealing with particularly slow children.

"I am afraid we have a conflict at that point." Neji said, turning away from the view afforded him by the chakra-enforced window.

"Why?" Tsunade demanded. As the Hokage she had the authority to make them go, but somehow things always worked out better when she left this particular team to their own devices once she assigned them a mission. It irked her, as she remembered things being a little different in her own day, but it was like every other member of the Twelve wasn't like that in their own way. Especially Naruto's team, which was almost as bad as this one, simply in a different way. Tsunade sighed, giving up. "Never mind, I don't want to know. You're dismissed, but I'll expect the full written report tomorrow."

The three drifted out of the room and Tsunade pulled out her bottle of sake, intending to gain as much comfort from the dark depths of the bottle as she could.

When they were far from Tsunade's office only minutes later, neatly folding formal robes and placing them neatly on the warm, dry stones surrounding the springs the three ANBU met each others' gazes with cunning intelligence. "The traps have been laid. Do you think they will come?" Sakura asked softly, pulling senbon from her hair.

"Of course. They have been predictable thus far. They will not realize that we can anticipate their movements. Extra effort on our part would only complicate matters." Neji's own hair was now falling in a sleek brown curtain as he answered her question.

"Besides, if we can take care of this quickly we can keep our eye on the Uchiha and whatever it is he is plotting." Shikamaru added, sliding gingerly into the steaming waters of the spring.

"You do not know?" Neji asked curiously.

Shikamaru sighed, allowing his head to fall back on the stones behind his head, his dark hair providing a marked contrast to the paler stones. His eyes were trained on the swiftly setting sun as he answered. "There are still too many possibilities. I'm narrowing them, but until I understand more about his present character and motivations I'm at a loss."

"We still haven't had time to search the Root archives either. This mission was convenient for taking care of this pest and obtaining the scroll I wanted, but the timing is suspicious. We will have to move quickly, if Danzou is our opponent." Sakura commented.

Neji gazed at his pink-haired comrade. "Don't worry. We can even save the Uchiha from his own foolishness."

Sakura's verdant eyes met Neji's silvery ones evenly. "Don't make promises you may not be able to keep."

Neji's gaze didn't falter even for a moment. His confidence was absolute and needed no words. Shikamaru sighed, breaking the serious moment. Neji and Sakura slid into the springs and the three watched the sun set in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

The next morning Sasuke Uchiha sullenly slouched into his kitchen, only to find that it had already been invaded just like it had every morning, but this morning it looked like a tea ceremony was taking place. Sasuke was forced to blink as Sakura slipped the last few flowers into the arrangement she was making. Neji was sitting next to her, apparently critiquing and the last member of the trio appeared to be bustling about in the kitchen.

"Good morning Sasuke-san." Sakura greeted brightly as he entered the room. A slight scowl appeared on Neji's lips and for a moment Sasuke reveled a little in the thought that the other shinobi disliked it, but when he reached in front of Sakura in order to twitch one of the flowers a few millimeters to the right it became apparent that wasn't the cause.

"Shikamaru is making breakfast this morning." Neji added unnecessarily.

Sasuke raised a dark eyebrow. "And you aren't helping?"

"It is most unwise to ask Sakura to do anything vaguely related to the culinary arts. We allow her to chop vegetables, but that is the extent that her talent reaches." Neji said calmly. Sasuke's obsidian eyes peered at his former teammate, who once would have taken a comment like that as a direct insult to her womanhood.

After a moment it became apparent that she wasn't going to react. She had propped her elbows on the table and was cupping her face with her hands, staring intently at the arrangement in front of her. After some deliberation a single hand reached out and twitched the flower that Neji had moved back into its former position.

"And you Hyuuga?" Sasuke asked, just stopping himself from twitching.

"Cooking breakfast for an Uchiha only qualifies as a C-class mission. No direct engagement involved, low risk of foreign shinobi. I'm sure Shikamaru will be fine." Neji once again moved the same flower, this time with even less of an adjustment.

Sakura seemed very involved in deciding whether or not the flower's position was satisfactory so Sasuke grumpily sat across from the two. Sakura tore her attention from the flowers for long enough to pour him a steaming cup of tea. The rest of Sasuke's team chose to stumble in at that moment, each blearily accepting a cup of tea as Sakura played the pleasant hostess.

"So where's that irritating blond kid?" Karin asked.

Sakura peered at Karin, then without warning the white flower that Neji and Sakura had been rearranging for the last ten minutes was sunk two inches deep into the wall behind Karin and a thin red line had appeared across the outer edge of her ear and her oddly styled red hair was settling back down. Karin was reduced to gaping unattractively for a moment, then she screeched, "What the hell was that?!"

"I saw a spider." Sakura said placidly. "I hate spiders. So I killed it." Her wide green eyes were innocent, like she was explaining things to a child.

Suigetsu was examining the flower, which was now drooping. The remains of an eight-legged body were indeed there, pinned to the wall, but he a feeling that the pink-haired nin wasn't talking about spiders at all. As he pulled the flower from its new resting place he snatched a look at the pink-haired girl who had seemed so unintimidating the first time he had met her. His voice was deeply impressed, but it concealed a slight quiver of unease. "You threw that flower hard enough to impale that thing."

Sakura immediately looked contrite. "Oh, I'm so sorry Sasuke-san. I'm afraid I put a hole in your wall."

Sasuke shrugged. "The wallpaper probably needs replaced anyway."

Outraged, Karin turned on Sasuke. "Did you see what she just did to me? Are you going to let her get away with that?" she demanded.

"Drop it Karin. A flower won't kill you." Sasuke commanded, equally as practiced at ignoring Karin as she was at screeching at him.

"She drove it two inches into that wall Sasuke." Suigestsu said quietly.

Sasuke shot an incredulous look at Sakura, who was now occupied in a silent struggle with Neji in centering the twin of the flower she had just thrown. He was distracted as Shikamaru served breakfast. After setting down the last of the plates the Nara sat down. Breakfast was a mostly silent affair if one ignored Karin and Suigetsu's bittering, but a slight twitch had made itself known in Sasuke's right eye. Neji and Sakura were still prodding at the flower and it had gotten to the point Sasuke wasn't even certain they were actually moving it this point.

In a flash of movement the head of the flower was suddenly separated from the stem and there was a butter knife quivering in the far wall. Naruto's cerulean eyes blinked at the quivering utensil which had appeared not four inches from his head as he had come in from the kitchen, where he had just come in the back door, and then at the satisfied smile spreading across Sasuke's face.

"I leave you guys alone for two seconds…" he trailed off exasperatedly.

A/N: So, what did you think? Review please!


	5. Reflections

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material that you may recognize in this chapter.

A/N: Sorry, the chapters kind of short. But please read and review, and thanks to everyone who has reviewed already.

Fallen Night

-Chapter Five-

Reflections

It was a cool night in Konoha, only a tiny sliver of moon visible in the sky behind concealing clouds. The air was heavy and damp, foretelling of the rain that would fall by morning. Sasuke Uchiha was standing quietly in the doorway of his former home, carefully noting each of the chakra signatures around him. When he was certain that the coast was clear he stole out on silent feet, careful to conceal his own chakra signature. Karin was leaving a false 'echo' of his chakra signature to fool their keepers, but it wouldn't be effective if it became obvious there were two signatures and one of them was on the move.

When he was just about to cross under the arched threshold that separated the Uchiha district from the rest of Konoha a shadowy shape dropped from above him, landing only inches away. Even with his speed he wasn't able to move before the shadowed figure had sent him sprawling with a blow across his face, probably crushing the cheekbone.

A low voice hissed at him, "Just what kind of idiot are you, Sasuke-teme?"

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked cautiously, feeling the damage that had been done to his face. Naruto stepped forward, moving out of the shadowed entryway. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he took in the appearance of Naruto's eyes. They were yellow, with horizontal slits and bordered in red. "How did you know?"

Naruto snorted and the yellow was replaced with sky blue once again. "I was just coming over to tell Ino that Fallen Night decided they'd take over." He was lying, but it was a flawless performance. Naruto might long for the return of his comrade, but he wasn't prepared to give up the secrets of Sage Mode. There was no need for Sasuke to know he had detected the false chakra signature the instant it had appeared and that he could feel Sasuke's chakra even when cloaked. And it wasn't necessarily false either, because Fallen Night had decided that they'd pull a shift.

Sasuke stood up and turned away from Naruto, striding back into the darkness. Naruto watched him go with sad eyes, finally melting back into the darkness himself.

When Sasuke arrived back at the house he found Shikamaru was sitting at the table. Without ever looking up from the elegant tea service in front of him the lazy nin began to speak. "Listen, Sasuke. I don't care why or what you do. I didn't like you then, and I don't like you now. I'm doing this for Naruto, and so are all the other people giving up their time to babysit you. So don't ever make the mistake of thinking he's a fool. He's just a lot stronger than the rest of us. A long time ago he decided never to lose his faith in people and the goodness in them, which is something the rest of us couldn't. That's why he'll be Hokage, not just because he's the strongest ninja in the village, and not just because it's his dream. But you would be an idiot to underestimate him."

For a moment Sasuke felt like he couldn't move, but then he finally found the strength to scowl at Shikamaru and sulkily glide into his room. When he woke the next morning the team had gone and Shino's had taken their place, but Shikamaru's words continued to haunt him.

While Sasuke couldn't shake off Shikamaru's words, the ninja who had delivered them wasn't returning the favor. Instead he was slouched lazily in the most infamous gambling hall that the outpost town near Konoha boasted. Shikamaru was occupied in watching Sakura engage in a card game so pitiful that he felt very sorry for the poor fools who had sat down to join her. He watched the way Sakura's eyes lit up in malicious glee as another hand was dealt and he struggled with the urge to tell the gentlemen seated around her that they should just give up now. Neji was seated next to him, his lips curled into a lazy smile that said he had identical thoughts.

Sakura's grin looked positively feral as she revealed her hand, pulling in another round of winnings.

"Inhuman…" muttered one of her opponents. Shikamaru caught other mutterings as well. "Legendary Sucker's apprentice…obviously didn't pass on her luck…that's fourteen hands in a row…scary…"

Neji got up from his seat to put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. He brought his mouth close to her ear. "I think it best we leave now."

Sakura nodded agreeably and excused herself. The sighs of relief from the other patrons were obvious and Shikamaru felt much more relaxed once they were back under the blue sky of the outdoors.

It wasn't until they were wandering down another street entirely when Sakura spoke again. "Was he there?" Her eyes still had their passive glow.

"Yes. As an informant for our target, he's remarkably visible." Neji responded.

"We'll have to leave within the day if we want to make it to Earth in time." Sakura said. "Or shall we allow our friend to destroy another village to make certain we have the pattern correct?"

"No need." Shikamaru yawned, tucking his hands behind his head. "We have his pattern down now and I can pinpoint where he'll strike. We can take care of this before Tsunade-sama gives herself a stroke."

"Do you think the Uchiha will make another attempt while we're away?" Neji asked casually.

Sakura tapped her fingers against her lips thoughtfully. "Naruto will keep an eye on him and even Sasuke isn't a match for Naruto in sage mode."

"Besides, it'd be more fun for you if he did pull something stupid, so stop complaining Neji." Shikamaru added.

A dangerous smile ghosted over the Hyuuga's lips before they once again fell into the lines of an amused grin. "You have made your point." He admitted.

"The only point Neji wants is the one he'll drive in Sasuke's back if he tries something, huh Neji?" Sakura bumped her friend playfully with her elbow as she drifted from Shikamaru's other side.

"Of course not. I wouldn't give him to time to turn and run." Neji 'playfully' bumped Sakura into the wall she was walking next to. Sakura's answering laughter bounced off the walls as she pulled herself from the rough plaster.

"Neeeejiiiiii." She whined. "That was mean…."

Shikamaru's quick eyes caught the source of the reason why the barbed humor had grown playful. Sai was heading towards them, blank expression in place.

"You shouldn't talk like that hag, it makes you even uglier." Sai commented.

"I was practicing my Karin." Sakura told him solemnly.

The former Root operative didn't give much of a reaction, to Fallen Night's disappointment. "The Hokage sent me to say that she wants to speak to you three again. It's probably about a mission she wants to assign." He reported, which explained why he was confronting them with such a serious face.

Sakura blinked slowly, then opened her mouth to give their reply. "No."

This caused a raised eyebrow from the other party. "You mean you won't see her?"

"We're very, very busy." Shikamaru said.

Sai surveyed the near deserted street, littered with gambling halls and bars. "Really?" His tone was unconvinced.

"Really." Shikamaru nodded in support of his own statement.

"Is there an excuse you want me to give her? Or are you just going to let her murder you when you show up?" Sai asked dryly.

"You may tell the Hokage that I am eloping with Sakura, after which we will overthrow the political structure of the Land of Wind while Shikamaru rebuilds Sound in our dastardly attempt to conquer the world." This came from Neji, who said it earnestly, his amusement wiped away.

"Or you could tell her that we're chasing a very important summoning scroll. It will allow us to summon earthworms to aerate the soil in our orchard. It's very necessary to the continued happiness of our mandarin oranges." Shikamaru was obviously in the spirit of things, though he said it with such honesty and conviction one almost thought he was serious.

"Or maybe…" Sakura didn't even get to add her excuse because Sai had disappeared quite suddenly.

Neji's pale eyes hardened. "Let us depart. If we leave now we will arrive in plenty of time to arrange a party for our guest." His hands were already forming handsigns at a speed impossible to follow. He completed the summoning jutsu and the three shinobi leaped upwards to land on the back of a great eagle as it materialized. Its massive wings kicked up dust and toppled signs with a loud clatter as it streaked into the air.

While Fallen Night was entertaining itself, Naruto was remarkably less entertained. Hinata had missed her expected return date and no one had heard from the young heiress. Naruto was getting to the point of being worried, but until they heard otherwise he and Sai had to stay in Konoha. For the moment Naruto was obeying orders, but that was only because he was worried about the havoc the Uchiha could wreck if he left the village. The mission request that they would have received, had Fallen Night chose to return was to assume Hellfire's duties in keeping the Uchiha well in line.

Naruto grumbled to himself, but he knew that those three would do what they would and not even he could stop them if they really got into it. For lack of anything better to do, Naruto fell into a familiar routine that he had done once a week for the last two years. Perched by the bed in the sterile room filled with beeping machines Naruto watched over the still body of his former sensei.

His gaze swept the familiar room, with its gleaming white tiles and soft blue sheets. Kakashi looked very still, laying with his silver hair pillowed against the white expanse. As usual there were small offerings of cut flowers on the nightstand, as well as a small bonsai tree that had been faithfully cultivated weekly by Ino. The room was still sparse, but personal touches had been added for the comfort of those that came to sit beside this bed. Photos lined flat surfaces, reminders of better times.

Naruto allowed his head to fall against the side of the bed, his happy façade draining away. "Kakashi, I don't know what to do. I wish you were around to help sort things out. Maybe you could have helped beat some sense into Sasuke. He's back now, but no one is willing to trust him. And if you were here I wouldn't have to choose between Sasuke and Hinata." A single tear left a moist trail down his cheek. "Hinata's a great kunoichi, but I can't help but worry. I don't want to fail her like I failed Sasuke."

After being quiet for a little while, listening only to the soft movements of the curtains blowing in the open window Naruto cleared his throat and sat up. Like he did every week Naruto told Kakashi about all that had happened in Konoha, almost like he could keep him up to date while he was walking in the darkness. When he walked from the private room he felt lighter, almost as if he had lightened his burden by sharing it, even if a nonresponsive Kakashi was his only audience.

To while away the time until he had something better to do Naruto walked the paths of old memories. It was difficult to do, not only because recalling those memories made everything more painful, but also because many of the places featured in his memories no longer existed. The training grounds where Team Seven had first met were still intact, as was the gently curving red bridge he had spent so many hours of his short childhood on.

When he looked into the water flowing below he could almost catch a memory of what he had been in his reflection, but he had to look hard for the silly genin in the brash orange jumpsuit. All he saw when he stared down into the blue water was a lonely figure leaning over the railing, looking back up at him as if all the answers could be found if only he looked hard enough. But there was no tender young blossom alternately yelling and cooing at her teammates, no young avenger with the warmth of kindness still glowing in his heart.

"Hey," Naruto said quietly.

A figure joined his in the reflection, this one cool where he burned hot. Long ebony tresses casually framed a pale face with sharp, unforgiving eyes. "What are you doing dobe?" Sasuke asked him caustically.

Naruto glanced at him briefly. "Isn't someone supposed to be watching you?"

Sasuke shrugged carelessly. Naruto continued gazing into the water, but he finally answered Sasuke's question. "I'm trying to remember what we were like back then."

Sasuke glanced down into the water. "It's not that hard. We were soft, weak idiots who dreamed big dreams without thinking of their consequences."

"Maybe." Naruto admitted. "But I think we were happier then, when we didn't realize what it was going to cost to achieve our dreams. But I guess they happened, our dreams, and now we'll have to live with them for the rest of our lives."

"I don't see anyone addressing you as Hokage-sama." Sasuke's tone was scathing, but he joined Naruto by the railing.

Naruto gave him a rueful smile. "That's just 'cause Granny Tsunade hasn't retired yet. After your probation is over, maybe even before that I'll be formally appointed."

Sasuke's eyes widened in near comic shock. "Then Konoha has more fools than I thought," he muttered after taking a moment to regain his composure.

"And you killed your brother, so you made your dream a reality, just like you said you would. And Sakura…" his voice trailed off fondly as he remembered how the young genin had stuttered through her introduction, constantly shooting glances at the object of her affections. "I think she found a dream too."

"And what's that?" Sasuke's voice was less harsh than it normally was, proving that he too remembered their pink-haired blossom's introduction.

"To protect the people who are precious to her, maybe. I don't know what it is, but I think it's what keeps her going, what makes her do the things she does. And she found comrades to help her achieve that dream. Neji and Shikamaru."

"So not you anymore then?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto grinned impishly. "You'd be surprised."

"And what's that supposed to mean, idiot?" Sasuke asked with irritation.

Naruto's impish grin stretched so wide it looked to split his face. "You're just jealous 'cause you think Sakura doesn't need you anymore."

"As if, dobe."

Naruto just smiled, knowing he had won this round. He abruptly turned serious again. "But you know Sasuke, even though there isn't a Team Seven anymore, there's still a place for you here. We still need you, even if we don't show it." Sasuke found he couldn't meet Naruto's eyes, not even in the water's reflection.


	6. All In A Day's Work

Disclaimer: I do not have any part of the Naruto franchise, but simply twist it for my own amusement.

A/N: Hehe, the story is still going. And to think when I posted the first chapter I had a very limited vision for it. Hopefully it doesn't turn into a plot monster like Five Kingdoms has.

Fallen Night

-Chapter Six-

All In A Day's Work

The trap was simple in its elegance. While Sakura and Neji and most probably every ninja in Konoha could look at the incidents and see only a random maze created by a madman, Shikamaru had grasped the pattern as soon as there were enough occurrences to constitute one. The three sat around a low table in the exact center of the newest village, partaking of some strongly scented mint tea. Around them villagers wandered around them in the routine cycles that were part of every village, paying them as much mind as if they were invisible spirits.

"He's here." Sakura said calmly, nibbling at the corner of an iced fruit tart.

"Do we need him?" Neji asked, taking another tart from the platter the warm snacks sat on.

"It would be preferable." Shikamaru admitted, laying back onto the dusty cobblestones of the square. He hadn't bothered to move from the table, so his feet were stacked neatly on Sakura's lap.

Sakura closed her eyes in concentration, her fruit tart still in hand. "Interesting."

"Hm?" Neji tucked his hands into the sleeves of his haori.

"I had wondered how he was mutating the virus so quickly. He has turned himself into the host. That would also explain why he would never have to fear his own disease, because as a carrier he is immune to it. I am still curious how he controls the spread of the disease." Sakura sounded slightly admiring of the clever technique.

"Shall we wait so you can see?" Neji asked.

Sakura opened her eyes. "No. It would only disappoint me if it wasn't something equally clever and from the ease which Shikamaru grasped this man's patterns I feel that disappointment would be a certainty."

"Doesn't matter, does it?" Shikamaru asked from where he lay on the ground.

"Not particularly. At this point with Neji's help I could probably copy his technique."

"So he is no longer of any use to us?" Neji was scrutinizing the remaining snacks, but his eyes were really focused on a more distant target.

"None."

A tiny smirk touched the edges of Neji's mouth and it found it's own unique forms on the faces of his companions as well. "Well then." At that moment the henge that had covered the shadow clones that were masquerading as villagers dissipated, and only moments after each and every one of the clones detonated itself. The three didn't flinch as a cloud of dust and wood exploded around them, nor did they mind the pained scream that was quickly cut short. A wedge of wood the length of a forearm passed centimeters from Neji's face, but he moved only enough so that his hair wasn't caught by it.

"I'll never quite get used to that feeling." Shikamaru muttered, referring to the intentional suicide of their clones.

"We've ruined the tea." Sakura remarked sadly, picking splinters from her cup.

"Why didn't we use a barrier jutsu?" Neji asked, looking with great irritation at his own setting and ignoring the liberal cloud of dust that had settled in his hair and on his clothing.

Sakura gazed up at him earnestly. "Because life is more exciting this way."

"Ah. Tea, however, is not."

Sakura couldn't disagree with him there. "You're right, of course. What do you think Shikamaru?"

"I think that while we're here, there is a great rock formation that is famous for the way sunset lights the quartz that has formed on the surface."

Sakura nodded her head happily, even though Shikamaru wasn't even looking her direction.

Neji's eyes grew sharper, and his next question was brisk. "While we are already outside, it is probably prudent to check our primary targets."

Sakura nodded her understanding and Shikamaru's aura turned more serious. "Probably. They won't sit still while Sasuke plays games."

Seconds later all that was left of the gathering was an abandoned table that sat in the center of a great circle of destruction. Not a house had survived.

With Ino at an undisclosed location:

Ino Yamanaka would never quite get used to the way a person's mind felt when she ripped her way through the protective barriers that surrounded itself. It was a rape of the worst sort, one that almost eclipsed its physical counterpart. But there was no member of her clan more talented at it than she. One day she would probably head Interrogation, but for now her talents were put to use spying. As a spymaster, it was not often she did legwork like this herself, but this was an exception.

Ino could feel with her physical body the way the man she had pinned against the floor was trembling violently. It translated well through the tendril on consciousness that linked her mind to its shell. She was not being pleasant in her invasion, handling his memories roughly and most probably giving him a splitting headache. He was a young member of an important clan in his home village, high ranked enough to know secrets, but not so high that everyone would be alerted if he went missing. And he only belonged to one of the peripheral houses, rather than the main branch, making it all the easier for her.

She could no longer deny what she found. Ino stared down into the frightened eyes of her captive, her jade eyes filled with dark rage.

"Pl..please.." he stuttered.

Ino forced her mouth to move. "I will be merciful."

He relaxed under her hand. Ino stared down at him and then deliberately burst the blood vessels in a crucial part of the brain. The man died instantly. It was the only mercy she would give scum like him.

Ino stood up, running her hands down her skirts to rid herself of an invisible taint. Her mouth settled into a grim line that was at odds with her pretty features. "Naruto is going to have a fit." She muttered to herself.

With Team Hawk and Naruto at the Uchiha compound:

Karin prodded the meal that had been set before her tentatively.

Sasuke simply looked resigned. "I had forgotten that this was Naruto's idea of a proper meal."

Suigetsu simply shrugged and dug into the steaming bowl of noodles that had been presented to him with a flourish. After he swallowed he asked, "Hey, where's Pinky and her goons? They haven't been around for a while."

Naruto first had to wrestle with the hilarity of anyone calling the reserved and elegant Neji Hyuuga a goon, no matter how odd he had gotten in Fallen Night's company.

"Ah, well, no one knows." Naruto admitted. The three members of Team Hawk that were present stared at him. Juugo was having a session with Tsunade to see if anything could be done to help him gain control of his extraordinary abilities.

"What are you talking about?" Karin blinked at him behind the frames of her glasses, which Naruto thought made her look kind of slow.

"The Hokage ordered them to return, but they disappeared."

Suigetsu looked up from where he was enjoying his meal. "Isn't that treason? Disobeying a direct order from the Hokage?"

Naruto grinned at him. "Well, technically Fallen Night is now classified as S-Class missing nins."

"Committing treason is punishable by death, isn't it?" Karin looked more curious than caring.

"Sometimes, yeah. But luckily Fallen Night's always been a special case. The first time they pulled something like this the spent a month in a Level One detention center in solitary confinement. They've spent some time since then drifting in and out of jail, but usually they stay just long enough for the elders to realize they're more valuable on the outside." Naruto admitted this without a hint of shame, as if it something normal that his friends did when they were bored.

"They've been in jail?" Sasuke's question was simply restating the obvious, but Naruto humored his friend who was suffering from a little bit of shock.

"Well, most of us in the Twelve have, for some crime or another. Most of us aren't so obvious about it, but we don't follow rules well." Naruto's voice was calm and unconcerned about it, because to him it was simply another fact. Naruto's blue eyes turned to Sasuke. "Come to think of it teme, they've spent longer in jail for treason than you have."

"Sasuke-kun has too many things to do to spend his time rotting in jail." Karin snapped defensively.

"And he's far too valuable for the council to waste that way." Naruto said calmly.

Karin looked at him with surprise. Naruto sighed in exasperation. "I'm not an idiot just because I don't go around hating the world like Sasuke-teme here."

Suigetsu patted Karin's head indulgently. "It's all right, this girl's just a bit slow when it comes to things."

Karin slapped his hand away irritably. "Don't tell me you weren't thinking it too."

"I know better than that." Suigetsu gave her a toothy grin and ducked a retaliatory swipe, acquiring Karin's untouched bowl of ramen in the process.

"Hey," she cried, outraged, "give me that back!"

Suigetsu pretended to think about it, then- "No."

Naruto blinked as an argument ensued. "They're always like this?" He hadn't seen them together often after they had come to Konoha, and the only time he had seem them eat together was at the breakfast table, which was a generally quiet meal.

"Yes." Sasuke was carefully ignoring his team. He had been impressed simply by the fact that Naruto hadn't served them instant ramen, instead making some from ingredients he had brought with him when he took over from Chouji earlier in the day.

Sasuke thought he looked a little worn, his smile less genuine. Even the bold crimson of his cloak seemed a little diminished. Internally he debated on the idea of attempting to leave the compound again tonight. But it was looking like less of an option, now that Naruto had been alerted. Now it was a matter of how much the Uzamaki knew.

But Sasuke drew his mind back to the matter they had been discussing. It was odd, to think that bright, cheerful Sakura had ever been in jail, especially for something like treason. It was still difficult, even now to accept how much she had changed. A thought occurred to him. "Hey, dobe."

Naruto looked up from where he was wolfing down his own noodles. "Yeah?" he asked, his mouth still full of noodles.

"The penalty for treason is death, isn't it?" Naruto nodded, not quite sure where Sasuke was going was this. "And Level One is where they keep shinobi that are too dangerous for holding with regular prisoners. It's also where they keep those waiting for execution." Karin and Suigetsu quieted in the background. "So which was it for Sakura?" He knew Neji and Shikamaru had been there too, but he didn't care about them.

Naruto sighed, placing his chopsticks neatly next to his bowl. "The first time they disobeyed a direct order outright wasn't something for something as simple as this time. It wouldn't have been the first time they had twisted their orders or suddenly disappeared on their own, but it was the first time they disobeyed a part of an order that had been emphasized by the Hokage."

"They were sent out on a mission to the country of Indigo. They were given express orders to not engage in combat once the crossed the borders. Indigo deals exclusively with the country of Fire and they are our primary source of all our most expensive dyes. Our treaty with them stated that the treaty became void if an act of violence was committed against them on their soil. Tsunade wasn't worried, because as our ally attacking them would be similar to attacking one of the civilian villages within our territory."

"However, something went wrong. Indigo is a tiny country, no matter how rich their land is. I think there's a grand total of eight villages. The problem was, after Fallen Night left, there wasn't a soul left alive in one of those villages."

"You mean…?" Karin trailed off, her question unfinished.

Naruto's eyes had grown vacant as he recalled the tale. "It wasn't a village that had even been on the way to the central village they were supposed to go to. Indigo is a closed country, one that required them to obtain travel passes to even enter, so they weren't supposed to go near any of the other villages. But for some reason they disobeyed orders. Later it was found out the village had been composed of missing nin and revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow Konoha. But at the time it looked like they had gone mad. The moment they returned they were arrested and slated for the death penalty. But there were delays and the Hyuuga clan managed to force an investigation."

"Delays?" Suigestu asked curiously.

"For one, the Hyuuga family values Neji very highly, so they weren't simply going to let him go. For a second, the one who had been in charge of the execution of all S-ranked criminals was Sakura."

"Sakura?" This came from Sasuke, who looked like he was having trouble processing this story.

"Yeah. Well, Neji and Shikamaru help, but Tsunade wouldn't let Sakura make a clean break from the medical field. Sakura got kinda mad at that, so she took over executions, which had always been done by a medic-nin to ensure that they were actually dead."

Naruto leveled his gaze so that it met Sasuke's own. "That means, teme, that if you'd been executed, you would've died by her hand." Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, then he looked away.

Naruto then gave his two remaining audience members a wide smile. "But it all worked out in the end, so that's that." He then went back to slurping his ramen as if he hadn't been completely serious two seconds before.

A door slid open with a crash somewhere in the back of the house and Naruto and the others jumped to their feet. Ino ran in the door, panting slightly. "Naruto, Hinata's been kidnapped!"

Naruto's entire body stiffened, as if a bolt of lightning had been run through it. "Tell me." His voice had darkened, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Ino just managed to gasp out the details before Naruto began to move. Sasuke stepped in front of him. "Where are you going?" he asked. Ino had included that the Hokage was considering her next move and no orders had been issued as of yet.

Naruto's voice was icily cool as he said his next words. It was that more than anything that caused a chill to dance along Sasuke's spine. He had seen Naruto in rage so deep he was inhuman, snarling and gnashing his teeth like a beast, but he had never seen Naruto simply freeze. Icy blue eyes met Sasuke's own. "I'm going to play ninja with my friends, Sasuke. Now get out of the way before you get hurt." Sasuke's mind caught at the familiar opening words, the taunt that he had once left Naruto with. Then he had no more time to think as Naruto simply backhanded him, sending him crashing through the wall.

Sasuke spat blood, knowing that at least five of his ribs were pulverized and one of his lungs had been punctured. Karin ran to his side, but Sasuke ignored her, could only watch as a swirl of crimson silk disappeared through the door. "Nar…nar." He coughed more blood and phlegm onto the ground, but he couldn't force the name out and Naruto never looked back.

A/N: So, tell me how you liked it. Feedback is always appreciated. Thank you to everyone who's supported this story thus far.


	7. The Sky Falls

Disclaimer: The Author has no claim on any part of the Naruto franchise and makes no profit from this story.

A/N: Thanks for all your support everyone! I'm really glad that everyone is enjoying it thus far and I hope that you enjoy this new chapter. Read and review, feedback much appreciated.

Fallen Night

-Chapter Seven-

The Sky Falls

At the Uchiha compound:

Ino had already rushed after Naruto, carelessly leaving Team Hawk alone in an action that spoke of her own worry. Sasuke coughed blood and Karin hovered worriedly, pulling back her sleeves to reveal the overlapping circular scars left by countless healing. She gave a small cry of pain as Sasuke bit down savagely, pulling chakra from her in a great rush that left her dizzy and nauseous. Sasuke could feel as his ribs pulled back into place and the blood and fluid in his lungs was reabsorbed into his bloodstream.

"Sasuke?" Karin asked weakly as she collapsed onto her knees. Sasuke was behaving unusually. Once upon a time, it had been the only gentleness she had received from Sasuke. He was careful, considerate in his chakra absorption, careful never to take too much or too quickly.

Sasuke wiped the blood from his mouth. His eyes were no longer filled with the strange confusion that had haunted them when she had first hurried to his side. Instead they were narrowed and purposeful, filled with the hate that Karin feared drowning in, so deep and dangerous were its depths. Sasuke laughed, a terrible laugh so reminiscent of her late master Karin felt a chill dance along her spine. He ducked his head as he chuckled darkly, but when he raised his head again, his eyes were filled with the demonic crimson of Sharingan. "That little fool. This is our chance."

Suigetsu watched them both from his forlorn seat at the table. "Hey, Sasuke, are you sure you want to do this?"

Sasuke's eyes turned against his follower with a gaze so cutting it was a wonder Suigetsu didn't bleed from it. "What are you talking about?"

Suigetsu shrugged. "I'm just saying, are you sure this is what you want?"

"I will take revenge for my brother and myself. For Itachi's sake…"

Suigetsu stood and walked over to the door that would lead him back to his rooms. With his back still turned he asked, "Are you sure this is what your brother would have wanted?"

Before Suigetsu even had time to blink he was pinned against his wall, his throat so constricted he didn't even attempt to draw breath. "Don't question me!" Sasuke roared. Suigetsu simply stared at him until Sasuke threw him to the side in disgust.

"This isn't the time to develop a conscience Suigetsu," Karin snapped.

Suigetsu gave her a shark-toothed grin, his eyes glinting more disturbingly than Karin had ever seen. For a moment she couldn't move, for a barely leashed predator gazed back. It was the first time she had ever truly feared Suigetsu. There was something utterly terrible about him at that moment, something that didn't laugh, didn't tease, could only destroy and whose singular desire was destruction. It didn't know loyalty, didn't know compassion, would destroy friend as quickly as foe. "Conscience? What are you talking about?" He stalked off into the darkness without another word.

Karin wrung her hands worriedly, but then Sasuke ordered her to get her equipment. The three members of Hawk rejoined each other in the kitchen that featured so prominently in Sasuke's early memories. For a moment he felt utterly wrong standing there, contemplating the genocide of an entire village in the kitchen where his mother had presided with a soft heart and iron hand over the males of her family. Then with a concentrated effort he tore those feelings out by the roots. "Move out," he ordered.

His subordinates followed silently, somehow incongruous with the bustling contentment of Konoha on one of its many pleasant days. Sasuke dug through his memories of Konoha to determine where they should go. He knew vaguely where ANBU headquarters was located, but he had no idea where Root kept their base. Danzou was his primary target, with the rest of the elders coming in second only because they had no private forces of elite ninja under their command. "Find the Root operative known as Sai. Take him and then report back to me." Karin and Suigetsu separated silently from his side. For a moment Sasuke felt a worrying twinge about Suigetsu's strange behavior, but he dismissed it after a moment of careful consideration.

At the end it was Karin who brought him, finding him enjoying a steaming bowl of miso ramen. She fed him some lie about Naruto requesting that he take over and with much murmuring Sai had complied. Karin only waited until they were out of sight of the civilians to knock him out with her chakra and communicating with Sasuke.

Sai blinked himself awake, dimly wandering what exactly had happened. Everything seemed explained as the dark form of Sasuke Uchiha loomed over him. "I'm flattered really, but even if you are really pretty, I don't actually swing that way.," Sai spoke dryly up at his captor.

The insinuation was so startling to Sasuke it took him a moment to process it and be enraged. Sai found himself facing the bared blade of the sword that rarely left Sasuke's side. He blinked calmly at the length of tempered steel that was threatening to cleave him in two. "Is that supposed to be a metaphor?"

Sasuke used all his self-control, built from hours of meditation and concentrated training to prevent himself from doing anything. The strain showed in his voice as he growled, "You will show me to Danzou."

The calm black eyes of his opponent stared up at him, seemingly totally at ease. In fact he seemed to relax even further, going so far as to tuck his arms behind his head, leaving him totally open and defenseless. "I'm not really into submission games either."

Karin was turning progressively redder, even if Suigetsu was now watching impassively and she felt uncomfortable even being near the formerly comically malicious nin. Sai had been dumped directly on the floor and Sasuke was crouched over him. Normally this wouldn't have caused any fuss, but there was something about the way Sai was holding himself, seemingly half undressed and his hair mussed that suggested certain _activities_. She tried to stifle a giggle and failed, Sasuke shooting her a dirty look.

Sasuke normally would have drawn even closer for more intimidation factor, but he was becoming hesitant by being even this close. He had a horrifying vision of Sai leaning up to kiss him if he got any closer. His imagination rendered it in such awful detail that he shivered.

"Hey, I know you're excited, but control yourself." Sai said petulantly, rolling over on his side and propping himself up on one elbow. The movement opened a gash along his cheek before Sasuke gathered enough awareness to move the blade.

He sheathed the sword and clenched his hands tightly. "Danzou," he managed to choke out.

Sai raised an elegant black brow. "He's probably not into this sort of thing, but if that's what you want…" he trailed off, shrugging carelessly.

Sasuke's hand shot out, catching at the thin fabric covering Sai's chest. Sai stared down at his hand. "You will take me to Danzou, where I will kill him."

"You couldn't possibly be that good." Sasuke drew from that deep, infinite well of patience that was quickly becoming a shallow pond.

"You will take me to him now, or I will use the Sharingan and force you." Sai looked at Sasuke in what seemed to be consideration. Then he shrugged.

"All right."

"What?!" Karin shrieked from the sidelines.

Incredulity robbed Sasuke of his Sharingan for a moment. "That's it?"

"It's not like anyone actually likes the old bastard anyway." Sai shoved Sasuke and with his balance already shaken Sasuke fell ungracefully the rest of the way to the floor. His frozen ebony eyes turned to look down at the man who had been menacing him moments ago. "He the only one?"

Karin wasn't sure what was happening and Sasuke looked about the same. Since the confrontation earlier Suigetsu had painted on an expression of utter carelessness, but now his expression appeared to have melted a degree, a wicked grin dancing on his lips.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked cautiously.

Sai didn't even blink. Karin idly wondered if he knew some medical jutsu, because he seemed to be able to stare blankly for unnerving lengths of time without being adversely effected by it. "I can only assume you're trying to kill everyone associated with the Massacre. That would be the only reason you'd need to know where Danzou is. I also know he isn't the only elder, and for an action that drastic it would take the approval of the Council. You probably want to know where they are too."

Sasuke's gaze sharpened as he threw off his earlier haze. "You knew of the Massacre."

Utterly emotionless, Sai replied, "Of course."

"And who else knew?"

Sai blinked. "You haven't figured it out yet? All of us know. The elders might be old, but they aren't senile. When you came back, they decided to take precautions in case you had found out what happened that night. Order came direct from Danzou that I was to keep an eye on you in case you were planning something. I was to eliminate you at your first suspicious movement, no matter what orders Tsunade issued otherwise."

"He went against the Hokage? And how did the others find out?" Sasuke's curiosity was pointed, attacking the pieces of the puzzle he hadn't yet assembled.

"There is a war in Konoha. It's simply occurring on the inside, in the shadows. As to your other question, Naruto was suspicious after he met your brother and eventually managed to get Tsunade to tell him. It took him a while, because Tsunade kept her silence until after Itachi's death was confirmed. By that point Fallen Night had been told because they were clawing their way through the ranks at a furious speed, and nothing could stop them from finding the documentation from the mission. Hellhound knew as well, because they were curious as to why Tsunade had stopped sending tracker-nins and hunter-nins after Itachi. Ino knew when she stumbled on it in some sensitive files and put two and two together. Chouji and Lee were informed by Naruto."

Sasuke processed this. Karin started, then asked, "If they already knew, why was that Sakura girl so eager to get in the Root archives? I thought that was what they were looking for."

Suigetsu and Sasuke both looked at Karin in surprise and she bristled defensively. Sai cocked his head to one side. "I have no idea what they were looking for. Knowing them, it could have been a move to make Danzou nervous."

"Why would they want him nervous?" Suigetsu asked.

Sai snorted, his first facsimile of real emotion in a while. "It's not just them. It's not specific to Danzou either. The elders know the second Naruto gets into office he's going to replace them all, so they play on the people's fears. They tell them he'll appoint other members of the Twelve, people who have no experience at anything beyond being a ninja and let them drive Konoha to the ground. Because of the attacks people are desperately looking for stability, and they see it in the elders who represent the Golden Age of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"And teams like Fallen Night and yours aren't exactly shining examples of that." Suigetsu muttered in comprehension. Sai nodded.

"So you're going to help?" Sasuke asked.

"No." Sai stated carelessly. "I'm being forced against my will to aid a known traitor to Konoha. Danzou would be very disappointed in me."

Karin blinked. "You're being sarcastic, right?"

Sai met her eyes and gave her the creepy fake smile that had once been his trademark. "Not at all." Then his face grew serious again. "You know that if you do it this way, you won't get away with it. Other people will get involved and they will die. If that happens, we will hunt you to the ends of the earth and you will die screaming." The last part was said with the reappearance of the discomforting smile.

"Then what do you suggest? The idiot won't listen to me." Suigetsu asked. Sasuke shot him a furious glare, but was ignored.

"Wait. You're impatient and it's causing you to be careless. Plans are already in motion around you."

Sasuke stared at him. Then he slowly and carefully formed his next words. "What do you mean?"

Sai looked annoyed for the first time. "I really thought you were smarter than this. And where is Dickless, anyway? Shouldn't he be the one telling you all this?"

"Apparently the Hyuuga girl was kidnapped from her last mission. Naruto went after her." Sai didn't appear to be overly distressed by the information.

Instead a cold, cruel smile pulled his pale features into a grim visage. "Poor fools. There won't be anything left." His gaze turned inward for a moment and then returned to his audience. "So what are you going to do pretty boy?"

The answer rose instantaneously in his chest, but in a moment of clarity he tamped down the impulse. Instead he began to consider, for the first time, beyond his revenge. That had been his first mistake when he had run after his brother so desperately. He had never really considered what waited beyond the death of his brother, with his bitter anger obscuring everything but the dark haired figure in front of him. He wanted to take vengeance with his own hand, so desperately he was willing to destroy everything he held dear. But this offer rang more true than Madara's. He wasn't so dense he didn't know that Madara was using him for some dark purpose of his own design. With this offer there waited a possibility of redemption beyond the bloodshed.

Once Naruto and Sakura would have been here for this moment, as they had tried to be for him so long ago. They would have begged and pleaded, cajoled and explained their plans expansively. Even Kakashi would have been there, wisdom in his words and understanding in his heart. But now Naruto was the one flying from Konoha on the wings of anger and hate and Sakura looked at him only with eyes that laughed coldly. And Kakashi was sleeping a sleep second only to death. Sasuke felt his hand unconsciously creep near his heart, as if he could protect it from the pain his actions had caused. Because, right now, he had never missed his friends so desperately as he did at this moment.

_What should I do Itachi?,_ he cried out in the darkness that he had brought willingly upon himself. _What should I do, big brother? What should I do?_

Karin and Suigetsu watched their leader, silent as he went through a personal crisis. Sai had little interest in helping the Uchiha to make the decision. He had hurt the friends that had reached out to him, that had stood by his side. For that it would take him a long time to forgive the Uchiha of his transgressions.

Finally Sasuke looked up, his eyes soft and dark. His razor edge was gone, that killing edge that kept everyone far from him. "I'll wait. I…I want to see if we can be Team Seven again. There's been enough pain."

Sai smiled at him at that point. It was the first genuine smile he had given them and Karin caught her breath at the way it transformed his face. "That's the first adult thing I've heard you say Uchiha."

At that moment Ino ran up to them panting. "Sorry, sorry. Good thing you took over Sai. The Hokage would have blown a fuse if she knew we left the Uchiha unsupervised."

Sai smiled at her. "Glad to be of assistance."

In a damp cave of the former country of Waterfall:

"Why are we here?" Shikamaru looked around distastefully, eyeing the wet surfaces that offered no comfortable rest. Eventually he simply pulled off his jacket and spread it on the nearest flat ledge that didn't have a pool of water resting there and stretched out on his stomach.

"Because for all nefarious plans, one must have a suitably detestable meeting place." Neji intoned seriously, his white robes fairly gleaming in the dismal light of the cave like some divine creature descended from heaven.

"I'd hardly call our plans nefarious. We are the good guys." Shikamaru complained, more interested in the state of their surrounding than actual concern about the particulars of their enterprise.

Sakura ruffled Shikamaru's spiky ponytail fondly. "Don't be angry just because we made you chase a girl again."

"That's a very good point. Why is it that I always fight girls?" Shikamaru grumbled.

"Because you're the only lady killer on our team." Neji said patronizingly, reaching around Sakura to ruffle Shikamaru's hair as well. Only he did it so roughly that Shikamaru swatted at him, chasing the hand away.

"That's not even funny."

With the sudden and unpredictable speed that they were known for the three abruptly became serious. Their eyes glowed in the low light of the cave like demons hidden in the dark. One pair of eyes winked out as Shikamaru closed his eyes. "Konan won't be a problem. I've observed enough to be able to calculate her actions 200 moves in advance. The only obstacle in my path is Pain, even though only Nagato, the original body remains. There appears to be some affection remaining between them, as supported by Tsunade's account of their past."

"We will have to arrange for another confrontation between Naruto and Pain. Arrangements will have be made to insure that the elders make no untoward moves while we are absent, though Tsunade has the advantage of the people's support at the moment." Sakura said. From within the depths of her sleeves she had produced a fan, with which she delicately hid her expression.

Neji's expression was thoughtful as he gave his own report. "As expected, my eyes allow me to follow Zetsu's movements underground. Even when he has melded his cells with that of a plant he has to keep his chakra grouped lest he truly be absorbed into the plant. This makes him vulnerable at that moment. I have developed my bloodline far enough there is little chance he will be able to fool my eyes. Even if he was able to I intend to leave him no chance to cloak his presence."

Sakura took up the narrative at that point. "The greatest obstacle in facing Kisame is overcoming Samheida. However, by our extensive research and considerable effort, I was able to obtain something that may be able to counter it." Sakura snapped her fan shut and tucked it back into her sleeves, reaching around to pull off her pack. From the near empty satchel that contained mostly scrolls she drew something wrapped in rough black cloth and secured with a white ribbon on which kanji that spelled out a spell of sealing were printed. With a small burst of chakra the white ribbon slithered from its knot to the ground, where it lay in a pool of still water.

Sakura pulled the black cloth back to reveal a case of pale wood which had been carved with a decorative lotus pattern. Neji moved to her side to receive the top of the case and even Shikamaru rose to peer into the box. Another layer of fabric presented itself, but this layer was white silk. Sakura pulled away the layers of concealing cloth until the object within was revealed. A katana, its blade broken off about two inches below the elaborately wrapped hilt lay there. Fine white leather wrapped the overlong hilt and fine waves that spoke of incomparable smelting adorned the remaining blade.

Shikamaru and Neji weren't fool enough to protest it was only a broken blade as Naruto would have been. "Explain." Neji requested quietly, loath to raise his voice. There was something ugly about the blade.

Sakura hand hovered just above the sword, never touching it. "Its name is Masume. Long ago a hungry spirit was sealed within. Its power was so great that the sword shattered."

"What manner of spirit?" Neji looked carefully at the blade with his bloodline activated, but he was unable to see any chakra patterns from it.

"I'm not certain, but by the descriptions it might be some manner of fallen celestial dragon." She raised sheepish eyes to meet Neji's. "Either that or it was a person that commanded a great deal of fear from the recorders. Given that there were a whole two scrolls, it's difficult to discern what they meant metaphorically. "

"You'll be able to…activate this?" Shikamaru asked.

"I believe so." Sakura said.

"And it is effective?"

"I believe that this will be one thing I won't test beforehand. Apparently there might be some…consequences. If it fails, Suigetsu can be brought in. Using him I should be able to defeat Kisame." Sakura covered the sword back over, as if she no longer could stand the sight of it, eventually sealing the box with a fresh ribbon. "The only one we haven't made plans for is the entity known as Tobi."

"Who we know to be Madara Uchiha."

"Indeed."

A/N: So, what did you think of it? Some soul searching on the part of Sasuke, a glimpse at Fallen Night's ultimate goal. Plot development abounds! Next chapter, we'll probably see Naruto wrecking chaos, so until then.


	8. Spirits Arise

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: Installment number eight! I'd like to thank everyone for their support, because that's what allowed me to get this far. Five Kingdoms has hit a rough patch, so I am consoling myself by writing this. Well, enjoy the chapter, then please review!

Fallen Night

-Chapter Eight-

Spirits Arise

It was a beautiful traditionally styled compound. Its lawns were lush and thick, each of the small gardens balanced perfectly with equal elements. Small children played carelessly on the green expanses, as if the danger of the world outside had never existed for them. A mother called out, offering dainty treats and the small horde of children followed her lead cheerfully. An elderly couple walked a path of crushed gravel that bordered the walls of the compound, the man supporting his wife even though he too leaned heavily on his cane. Small frogs sang beside water gardens, leaping in with a small _plop_ when the gentle sunlight began to dry their skin. A younger couple took tea together in a shaded grove, a watchful servant hovering over both the tea service and his young master and mistress.

Naruto saw this only peripherally, his currently golden eyes cold and searching. For now he had interest in the beauty offered here. It was a beauty that he knew to be contained within that held his attention. From his crouched position he had watched the inhabitants tirelessly since the first rays of dawn had kissed the cool earth. Like a gargoyle he had stood unwavering, ignoring the protests of muscles that were not meant to hold his body so still. A butterfly had even condescended to alight upon his goldenrod hair while he waited.

Hinata was here. He was certain of this, almost as if she was standing next to him and he could hear the reassuring sound of her heartbeat. It was a trial to keep still enough for Sage mode with his emotions in such roiling turbulence. But his iron will had prevailed, allowing him to trace her to one of the inner rooms. As far as he could discern no harm had been done to her. It cheered Naruto somewhat, because that meant he wouldn't have to destroy every ninja who owed his loyalty to this clan. For the life of him Naruto couldn't remember their name, though he was certain Ino had told him. It was the murmurs he had heard that made him cautious. A few small toads he had summoned lurked in ponds where people were gathered and they in turn relayed information to him. The family kept talking about a 'marriage' that was to take place the next morning.

Naruto knew the desire of the old clans to ally themselves with clans of equal status and age was great, but he had really thought the habit of abducting brides was something of the past. But he was at least reassured that Hinata wouldn't be harmed, which cooled his rage somewhat. A nasty grin pulled his mouth into a fanged smile as he withdrew to wait for the sun to set. For as soon as that golden eye touched the horizon his plans, made carefully in the still hours of dawn, would begin.

Just as the red clouds of twilight began to gather, just outside the white-washed walls of the compound that housed the Kurosawa (he'd taken time to examine the nameplate beside the gates) clan Naruto faced three of his own clones, each with a serious look on their features.

"Will four be enough?" one of them asked.

The original grinned coldly. "I don't think they'd be able to handle a full nine."

"You're sure this disguise will work? Granny Tsunade will be displeased if we cause an all out war because of this."

"Don't worry. But…," Naruto's voice trailed off for a moment, "I don't think it would matter. I think, deep inside, I would destroy this entire country for Hinata."

Familiar blue eyes blinked back at him and he colored sheepishly. Then one of his clones sniggered. "Took us long enough."

"Don't do that." Naruto said, a slight shiver shaking him. "It's creepy when I talk about myself in the plural."

Sharing one last grin, this one nearly feral, all the Naruto's made the exact same handsign. "Transform!"

When Naruto could once again peer through the clearing smoke he found himself faced with the product of his planning. Each Naruto had assumed the same form, so it offered him a splendid view of the form that had crawled from the depths of his imagination. It was taller and more willowy than his usual form, with nightmare crimson eyes with the slit pupils that seemed to convey only cruel mischief. His trademark whisker marks were gone, replaced by nearly translucently pale skin and elegantly aristocratic features. His brash yellow hair the he had always kept short fell in a waterfall to his waist, its color so pale that it looked like yellowed moonlight, two furred ears peeking out from the strands to crown his head. Nine tails of the same gentle champagne color peered from beneath the hem of a cloak that suddenly clashed like a garment made of blood cloaking the figure of ivory and moonlight.

Naruto looked down at his own hand, at the elongated nails that made crescent moons in his skin as he clenched his fist. He could even feel the over-long canines in his mouth as he grinned in a feral expression. "How unfortunate that they attracted the attentions of a fox spirit right before a wedding."

"Hn." Another Naruto grinned in agreement.

Naruto began issuing his orders brusquely, the suddenly deeper sound of his own voice foreign to him. "Separate and make chaos in the household. Allow yourself to be seen just enough that they have an idea of what they're facing. If necessary, assume the full fox form we agreed upon. While you provide the distraction, I'll retrieve Hinata." With identical nods of assent upon their cold features his doppelgangers dispersed and Naruto too disappeared into the night, leaving only the faint scent of orange blossoms in his wake.

As the Kurosawa household settled in for the night, few imagined what was about to happen. But at exactly the moment when the last rays of the sun disappeared, every mirror in the house shattered. Adults, startled by the noise rushed to check. They found that the furniture in half of the unoccupied rooms had been turned upside down. In the kitchen spices were spilled carelessly across the floor and every time someone ventured outside the lighted areas they felt a mysterious presence that just escaped their ability to identify. There were also unexplained sightings: the brush of a silky tail just rounding a corner and no one on the other side, a moonlit figure walking in the courtyard, children who talked of being invited for cakes out in the carefully tended stone gardens. Only one person tried to leave the compound, but the slash of invisible claws felled him and stopped others from trying to leave. Finally they huddled in their rooms in fear, burning calming incense and wondering what they had done to incur the displeasure of such a strong spirit.

But the thing that caused the most upset was not found until hours later when they finally found the courage to venture back outside. In a hidden room in the back of the compound, where they had kept their stolen bride in a drugged sleep, nine ninja who had been involved in her kidnap were laid out. It was a formal thing, their feet pointed in and their bodies evenly spaced in a circle. In their blood, as if from the stroke of a master artist, ran whimsical whirls that covered the floor and ran up the walls, finally culminating on the ceiling in a stylized fox with nine spread tails.

On the way back to Konoha:

Naruto ran so quickly he probably appeared to the outsider a pale golden streak. He had dismissed all but one of his clones, leaving that one to catalogue the family's responses and make sure there were no unforeseen consequences to his rash actions. Hinata was cradled closely in his arms, her dark hair spilling across his still blood red sleeves and mixing with the long hair that he hadn't bothered to dispel.

He looked down, his eyes tracing the gentle lines of her face, relaxed even more in sleep. "Hinata?" he whispered gently. In response her dark eyelashes fluttered until her pale lilac eyes stared up to meet his own.

Hinata awoke to consciousness slowly, an unusual occurrence for a ninja of her caliber. At first she could only take in vague shapes and ghostly shadows, but slowly her vision cleared to reveal the exquisite creature staring down at her. Shining ruby eyes gazed at her with concern and tenderness, set in an elegant and unfamiliar face. For a moment she knew panic as memories of being ambushed while her chakra was low appeared, but she began to calm again as her eyes picked up the ebb and flow of the chakra of the person carrying her. Like her own personal sea, Hinata would know this chakra pattern anywhere, no matter what face it wore. "Naruto?" she asked weakly. "Why…do you look like that?"

"Ah, this?" Naruto asked her in surprise, not that she had seen through the transformation but that it would be her first question. He quickly dismissed the henge, smiling down at his partner as he continued to run through the cooling night. "This better then?" he asked her.

Hinata looked up at her savior's face, tracing its familiar shape. She knew the curve of his jaw, the faint lines that crossed his face, the proud blue eyes that looked upon the world with hope and challenge. Though her hand felt stiff she reached up to caress his cheek. "Yes." She whispered. Hinata smiled faintly at the tinge of pink that flooded that same cheek that had been so cool only seconds earlier. It would go against her character to tell him that she thought he was far cuter when he was like this than in the elegant fox-form he had assumed so recently. So she kept her silence, content to stare up at the one she had watched from her earliest days.

She was puzzled as he seemed to turn progressively redder and his pace began to slow. "What's wrong Naruto?" she inquired gently.

"Ah...," he shifted her uncomfortably in his arms, like he wanted to reach up and scratch his hair sheepishly but had forgotten his arms were otherwise occupied. "When we get back, do you…" he turned far to the side, because ducking his head would do little to hide his face with Hinata already in his arms, "want to go out to eat somewhere?"

Hinata stifled the blossoming hope inside her. "Don't we usually go out to eat after a mission?"

This time Naruto actually turned his head to look at her. His expression tugged at her heart, like a puppy that expected to be kicked. "I meant…just the two of us."

A slow smile spread across Hinata's face. Ino would have pulled him down and kissed him on the spot. How Sakura would react to such a proposition now was anybody's guess and Tenten would have been too embarrassed at having to be rescued to say anything. But Hinata knew the right answer. "That would be…very nice." Hinata said softly. Her reward came in the form of a blinding smile and arms that hugged her closer to his body.

With Ino, Sai, and Sasuke&Company back in Konoha, Uchiha Compound, Main House:

They had sat silently for a while after Naruto's abrupt departure. When Juugo had returned he accepted the silence without comment, simply sitting quietly in one corner. Eventually the silence had proved too much for Karin and Suigetsu and the never ending battle of insults had commenced once again. But Sasuke had settled quietly onto a mat in the lotus position and hadn't moved or spoken since.

Sai gazed over at the corner that was currently housing the stationary Uchiha. "Think he's gone into hibernation?" he asked Ino. Both were pillowed on over-sized floor cushions across the living room, Sai propped on one elbow and slowly consuming a plate of grapes.

Ino had been reading one of the magazines that were included in her many vices, so she had to look up and over to where Sasuke had planted himself. "I d'know. Maybe he took the phrase 'putting down roots' literally?"

Sai shrugged. "Could be he can't work through a crisis without doing something dramatic. And now that he can't run away with snaky pedophiles or race of on some stupid vendetta he just doesn't know what to do with himself." Placing one of the grapes between his thumb and forefinger he flicked it with unnerving accuracy at the other ninja, but he didn't even flinch when the small object bounced off his hair.

Ino looked back and forth between Sai and Sasuke for a moment then acceded, "Could be." She then proceeded to go back to her reading.

Karin and Suigetsu had watched this exchange in slight disbelief. "I don't understand Konoha ninja." Karin said plaintively.

Suigetsu reached over and shoved her gently. "That's because it takes more than half a brain. You'll never get it."

"Hey!" Karin snapped, turning to round on Suigetsu, but she was stopped by the look on his face. It was so different from his earlier cruel expression that she had difficulty believing it belonged on the same face. There was a look of intense longing in his eyes as he watched the two ninja, each sitting in comfortable silence with the other. "Suigetsu?" For a moment he didn't answer or look her way.

"What?" He asked belligerently, almost in character once again.

"Nothing." Karin looked down at her hands, simply to avoid his eyes.

"Something wrong Kar-in-chan?" It was something about the way her name was drawn out, or the way she caught a whiff of sulfur moments later alerted her to the fact that either a devil had risen to take her or the Nara was standing behind her. A quick turn of the head informed her that it was indeed Shikamaru Nara, slouched over and hands in his pockets as usual.

"Aren't you missing some pieces?" Karin asked caustically to hide the start of surprise she had felt when he spoke.

Shikamaru slowly surveyed the room then returned his attention to her. "No." He said simply.

Their conversation had drawn Ino and Sai's attention and both nin were looking expectantly at him. He blinked, as if to ask them what they were looking at him for. Finally he spoke again. "Neji and Sakura have abducted the Kazekage, so they won't be back for a few days."

Ino sighed. "Again? The last time nobody could find the Gaara-san for a week and a half. Turns out they were hitting festivals in Earth Country," she explained to the baffled members of Team Hawk. Then her voice turned sly. "It also means that they give Shika-kun and Tema-chan some alone time with each other."

"Did anyone ever tell you you're troublesome?" Shikamaru mumbled.

Suigetsu looked up at the dark-haired young man. "Temari's the Kazekage's sister, right? You're interested in her?"

"Che. We aren't in the academy anymore Ino, boys and girls can be friends."

"Sure. Friends." Sai had flopped onto his back, his head hanging off one end of the cushion he was lying on.

"Is everything from your mouth an innuendo?"

"They abducted the Kazekage?" Juugo slow, strong voice broke the flow of their conversation.

"Not really. At least not anymore. Gaara intentionally sets himself up some vacation time and lets Neji and Sakura drag him off to some foreign country for a week or so." Ino explained patiently. "But for security purposes he can't tell anyone he's leaving ahead of time, so they call it 'kidnapping'."

"And that's not illegal?" Karin asked curiously.

Ino and even Sai grinned. "No. Temari and Kankuro forced through a law that makes an exception for Fallen Night. Even if they were to go to Sand and abduct him from his bed no one would be able to take legal action against them."

"So just immoral?" Karin's tone said it all.

"Yeah." Sai answered her, telling her he found the whole thing amusing.

Sasuke finally looked up. "If you're here, do you know where Naruto is?"

Ino nudged Sai. "It speaks!" she whispered.

Shikamaru sighed. "He's probably at some nice restaurant right about now, romancing his Hyuuga heiress. Clumsily at that."

Sasuke opened his mouth to make some comment but it was drowned out as Ino tackled Sai and thrust her fist into the air in triumph. "Finally!"

A/N: All right not a lot going on in this chapter but some intense fluff, but I got really busy, so please accept this chapter with my apologies.


	9. In Motion

A/N: My apologies for the enormous delay in between chapters. Real life got in the way. Enjoy. Review if you care to.

Fallen Night

-Chapter Nine-

In Motion

In a hotel at an undisclosed location:

Gaara of the Desert, the most feared and respected Kazekage of his age, had awoken to many a strange room, lying in a strange bed he had no memories of entering. The only comfort he could find in this unacceptable situation was that said bed was generally not filled with strange women, though the strange woman who was there nearly made him regret that fact.

Opening his piercing jade orbs to peer blearily at yet another unfamiliar ceiling he wearily confirmed that this indeed was another of those situations. Sitting up he found crimson sheets slithered down his bare chest to pool in his lap.

"Gaa-ra-kun!" A too enthusiastic voice sounded far too near for his comfort. He shot a dark glare at his companion, who was exactly who and where he expected her to be. Sprawled lazily across the armchair that had been pulled from where it had sat next to a small table (a lighter spot on the carpet gave testament to its former position) until it just brushed the edges of the sheets, long candyfloss pink hair was his first impression.

"Sakura," he acknowledged groggily and somewhat wearily. Sakura clapped her long, elegant hands together and tilted her head to the side, grinning so cutely as to be almost blinding. "Quit it," he commanded.

A slow, elegant smirk crossed Sakura's face, changing her entire demeanor. Her sprawling form collected itself until she sat straight in the chair. A movement at the door of the room drew Gaara's wary attention away from the young woman and to her dark-haired counterpart. Gaara's wariness increased as he observed an eerily similar expression molding the Hyuuga's handsome features.

"Gaara-kun," Sakura's sing-song tone made him want to curl into a defensive posture, but it was below the dignity of the Kazekage to actually cower, so he settled for glowering darkly at them both. The last time he had seen such looks had ended in one of the most humiliating experiences of his life. It had been some sort of festival of flowers, meant expressly for women, and Sakura had _insisted_ in the politest terms that both Gaara and Neji accompany her. Sakura had blossomed into one of the most elegant and beautiful women in his acquaintance, so usually it was no chore to see her in a formal kimono with fresh flowers pinned in her hair. However, it became painful when the blossom was still accompanied by her supporting branch.

Gaara would deny beyond the grave the horrifying truth that Neji Hyuuga, ninja prodigy, actually looked halfway decent dressed as a woman. With the long silky brown lengths of his hair styled and a placid expression replacing his more usual confident smirk, along with a specially tied obi that made his form appear slimmer and more feminine, his blasé confidence had translated perfectly.

Of course he had hid his smirk behind the cover of a fan, held delicately in one hand complete with elaborately painted nails as Sakura had forced and coerced Gaara into a mint green kimono that she insisted matched his eyes. Of course, it wouldn't do to use their ninja skills to simply transform and Sakura's convoluted explanation hadn't offered him any insight at all into the why he had to attend in the first place. It had only gotten worse as Neji's deep crimson nails had lent their talents to Sakura's sky-blue ones. Perhaps more horrifying than first seeing himself with Shukaku half-emerged was seeing himself in the mirror after they had finished.

A long red wig nearly the exact color of his own hair had been added, the long tresses a startling foil to the pale green of the kimono. Make-up had been lightly applied with an expert hand (and to this day Gaara still shuddered to remember that hand had been Neji's), until a young woman with heavy black eyeliner and wide, startled eyes had stared back at him. And to compound the awful reality of the situation, which could perhaps have been overcome with time and a great deal of therapy, they had taken photos and happily distributed them to both his siblings and his top three ministers of state. Gaara hadn't been able to face the Minister of the Treasury for a week after he had commented on how attractive the young woman in the photo had been.

That brought him to his current state of distress. Cautiously Gaara confirmed that, yes, he was wearing pants. If he was forced to run, the last thing he wanted to be doing was outraging little old ladies on the street. A part of him reflected that there was something inherently wrong about the leader of an entire country reacting like this to two ninja of inferior rank. However, it was his private theory that in some point in their development someone had forgotten to remind Sakura and Neji that they were supposed to respect authority and obey those that wielded it. As it stood, the only thing he knew that they respected was power, and the time it would take them to overcome that wasn't even enough to give him a good head start.

"Pan-da-kun." A finger poking him in the forehead brought him from his reverie. His jade eyes narrowed as Gaara realized that his inattention had allowed them to further encroach on his position. Sakura was all but sitting on his lap and Neji had drifted into the chair she had formerly occupied.

"You are being entirely too familiar. Remove yourself." Gaara growled.

"Pardon our rudeness, but we have little time at present to reflect on our actions." Neji's smooth voice forced Gaara to turn his attention to the other ninja and ignore Sakura for the moment. The ill-boding smirk was still present on his face and some sort of dark amusement was dancing in his silver-pale eyes, but there was a serious aura surrounding him that Gaara hadn't seen for years.

"We thought it would only be good manners to alert you that we'll be using your country for a little while." Sakura said sweetly.

Perhaps it could be blamed on the fact that he had just woken from a sleep that was more than likely drugged, but it took a moment for the statement to sink in. Then Gaara asked in a low, dangerous voice, "What?"

"Surely you heard us, Kazekage-san," Neji's smooth voice only grated on already disturbed nerves. Had he still had Shukaku his vision would have already gained a tinge of red; as it was he was entertaining cautious dreams of strangling both the Haruno and the Hyuuga.

Articulating his words carefully Gaara growled, "Perhaps you would care to explain."

"Earthworms." Sakura said simply.

"Earthworms. I see." The dangerous fantasy was reaching closer to becoming reality. It wouldn't take much. Sakura's neck was long, slim, and so close and his fingers were fairly twitching in anticipation.

"No, I'm afraid you don't. I will be the one to see." On second thought the too-smug voice of the Hyuuga should be the first to be silenced.

"Make sense quickly, before my already limited patience expires."

Sakura's cheshire grin grew, her emerald eyes verily glowing. "Earthworms are very sensitive to vibrations and minute chakra changes within the earth, especially in loose sandy soil like here in Wind."

Gaara jade eyes narrowed. "I fail to see how that relates to anything."

"We've a guest coming, so we thought it best to throw him a welcoming party. However, there lay some difficulty in issuing his invitation. He is so difficult to find after all." There was a window behind the armchair's current position with its curtains drawn and Neji pulled back the corner to peer out the window, seemingly more interested in the view than the conversation.

The slow slithering sound that Gaara's sand made on the move motivated him to look at the floor, where thin tendrils of sand were beginning to curl around his ankles. An arched brow rose in what seemed more like curiosity than fear. "You are doing this deliberately."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" There was only a slight tinge of mockery in Neji's voice.

Gaara hung his head and ran his fingers through his already messy crimson hair, deliberately reminding himself that these were ninja from an allied country. That failed when the troubling thought occurred to him that it actually might strengthen his treaty with Tsunade, ridding her of her most troubling ninja. He tried thinking that they were his friends and that should stay his hand, but he was having difficulty remembering many situations that he had enjoyed with them at the moment so he was left to search for some reason that he shouldn't kill them. He finally lit on the solution when he noticed the floor of the room was carpeted and housekeeping would be upset when they were forced to remove bloodstains. That now settled, he returned his gaze to the others.

"Very well. Will my citizens be in danger, or will there be significant damages to either property or the land?" Gaara had his doubts that the world coming to an end would stop Fallen Night in the pursuit of their goals, so ensuring as little as possible was damaged was the best he could do.

"Unlikely. Thanks for being so understanding Gaara-kun!" Sakura leaned forward and pressed a light kiss on his cheek so quickly that he blinked. When he opened his eyes again the room was empty and Gaara couldn't feel their chakra signatures at all.

Gaara sighed and looked around the room once more. "Now where am I?"

Outside the hotel:

The two present members of Fallen Night were preparing to separate.

"Shikamaru will already be arranging a mission for Naruto. I'll see to it that the information concerning his location is leaked to Pain. He will doubtless take advantage of the opportunity to capture him." Sakura mused as her feet took her lightning fast from the location they had stored the Kazekage at.

"What if he decides to be cautious? Naruto came close to beating him last time." Neji pointed out the only variable factor they had failed to make arrangements to control.

"What kind of god doubts his own strength?" Neji was silent, for he couldn't disagree. "Besides, even if he doesn't come other plans have been made."

"Those plans rest on the success of our current missions."

Sakura's eyes hardened briefly. "Shikamaru is adaptable. If circumstances should change, he will as well."

Neji's pale eyes turned to her briefly. "I see." He turned to face forward again. "Gaara-san's look was interesting when we told him about the earthworms. Never let it be said that we sent Hokage-sama false information."

Sakura sighed. "It's a pity that Sai probably never told her what we were doing."

They reached the edge of the town, where the landscape rolled on beyond the reaches of their eyes. Neither of them could say it, to wish the other luck, because in their way they were gods as well. There was no room for either doubt or failure. All they could do was look at each other with unmasked eyes and go their own way. It had been the same when they had left Shikamaru. Fallen Night would never say goodbye again. They feared that one word more than death itself. It may have been the only thing they feared.

In Wind Country:

Neji's feet were the swiftest in Fallen Night. Only Lee himself could match his speed. So it made sense that his confrontation would come first. He had been first in everything else. A year older than his comrades, he had graduated from the Academy first. Shikamaru had been made chunnin before he, but it was Neji who was first appointed jounin. He was also the first member of Fallen Night, meant to be an elite ANBU squad. So it was his destiny to be the first to carry on the plan.

Neji's far-seeing eyes surveyed the landscape around him, but even then there wasn't much to see. Scrubby trees bent by wind and want of water, dry grasses clinging fitfully to dunes of more sand than soil. "Perfect." His lips formed the word, but a sudden gust of wind snatched it away from him.

He calmly pulled his knapsack from his back and proceeded to remove one of the scrolls contained therein. Nipping sharply at his thumb, he drew the bloody digit across the opened page. It was the least impressive summoning he had ever witnessed, especially given the amount of trouble Fallen Night had gone through to obtain it. Thousands of earthworms appeared within half a square mile and immediately began to burrow into the loose soil to escape the harsh elements above.

A smirk tugged at Neji's lips. This time the wind let him keep his words. "To be brought down by such a thing…"

The great difficulty in facing the ninja of the Akatsuki known as Zetsu was finding him to fight. His ability to merge with plants and the earth made him a near infallible enemy and it had taken great research and planning to advance them to this point. Several test encounters with Zetsu had proven to Neji a few things. With great difficulty he could follow Zetsu's chakra mass with his eyes, but the strain was prodigious and made him unable to focus on anything else. But there was one other thing that he found more important. There was a limit to how much Zetsu could spread his chakra, as well as a definite limit to how deeply he could burrow.

A tug in his mind drew his attention. Reaching out mentally he felt the collective consciousness of the worm summons, their basic and dull minds waiting for his orders and relaying their impressions of the earth.

"So, he's here then." Allowing his gaze to flow carelessly over the expanse of earth in front of him Neji was able to catch just a hint of chakra at the edges of the worm saturated soil. Neji bided his time patiently until Zetsu was well within range, the earthworms murmuring fitfully as his passage interfered with their progress. At last Zetsu was in position. His fingers moving at near impossible speeds Neji performed two simultaneous jutsus—what anyone would call a feat unto itself. "Earth Cradle."

Deep within the earth the frantically burrowing earthworms stilled, thin but unbreakable lines of chakra forming an inescapable net that caught the moving Zetsu in its grasp. Their tiny bodies formed the connectors, the telepathic bonds of their collective consciousness giving guidance to the chakra. And ever so slowly, even as the final connections were made, the ones in the deep center part of the net turned and began the slow upward trek to the surface, those still on the outer edges beginning a long journey to join with Neji at the center of the circle. The iron jaws of the trap had begun to close.

"Four Pillars of the Sky." Four thin columns of earth, its wiggling occupants still intact, rose and arched inward until they connected. As that last contact was made and the very tips of Zetsu's head began to rise from the ground a double barrier of chakra formed, the only indicator of its presence the warping of the images that lay on the exterior of the barrier.

Neji's voice was careless and lackadaisical as he finally greeted his opponent. "I guess you really can't fault Shikamau's directions."


	10. In the Flickering Light of Dawn

Kisame Hoshigaki.

A/N: I personally found this to be a very challenging chapter to write. Not only am I not good at fight scenes (despite which I seem to attempt to write a lot of them), but I was also trying to pick the threads of the plot back up from a very long fallow period. Not to mention I have no clue how Zetsu actually fights. So, if you would, I'd really appreciate feedback on this chapter. I'd also like to thank everyone for all your supportive reviews. They mean a lot to me as a writer.

By the way, for purposes of this story, Naruto didn't arrive in time to confront Pein the same way he does in the manga. If I ever work up the energy and inspiration to write a prequel, you'll find out what happened, but for now, please just go with it. If you have questions, just PM me or drop a review and I'll try to answer them. Provided it doesn't give up too much of the plot, of course.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…or anything really. If you recognize it, I probably don't own the rights to it. I only have the right to mangle it.

Fallen Night

-Chapter Ten-

In the Flickering Light of Dawn

A ninja should always be alert to his surroundings, aware of every possible avenue of attack, always ready to face down whatever opponent should rise against him. Always looking "underneath the underneath" as Kakashi-sensei had once admonished. Haruno Sakura was proving just how well her sensei had taught her as she scowled fiercely at her opponent. "No threes, Go Fish."

The empty air across from her seemed to stir slightly in consternation, but it made no move to collect the card its ill thought out guess had earned it. Sakura obligingly retrieved said card from the deck, placing it in her opponent's hand, humming the theme song from Jaws under her breath. She was increasingly certain she'd win this round, no matter that the empty space across from her had many more pairs on its side than she had on hers.

And that is how Hoshigaki Kisame stumbles onto her location, looking a bit incredulous at the scene spread out before him. His eyes widen and he opens his mouth to make a comment, but Sakura raises a silencing hand; then lifts one index finger to indicate she'll only be a moment.

There is nothing small about Kisame's incredulity at this point. A dark brow reaches up to touch the fabric of his scratched forehead protector, but the missing-nin isn't his partner. When he sees a little pink-haired slip of a kunoichi in the middle a vast, blasted wasteland playing cards against herself and _losing_ he doesn't immediately assume he has slipped into some enemy ninja's exceptionally twisted genjutsu. Instead he simply stands and watches as the kunoichi proceeds to deal herself the worst hand of cards he's seen since Tsunade had been roped into being Hokage.

As the last of the cards fall into place Sakura's scowl is cut so deeply on her face it might have been carved there. "Damn, kunoichi. That really is pathetic."

Sakura aims a malevolent glare at the nin who is foolish enough to mock her. Then, as if deeming him unworthy of her attention she returns to staring at the cards with such intensity they actually begin to curl around the edges. She mutters something under her breath and Kisame can just make out the word "cheated" from her irate diatribe. Kisame sighed. As he knew well from experience, the most powerful nin were half the time raging madmen, but this was taking things a little too far. "...you lost to yourself in a game of Go Fish?"

Her emerald-bright eyes turned to him again and this time he had the full force of her attention. Her grin was chesire wide, crinkling her eyes. "Not at all. You're here, aren't you?" Kisame reflexively fell into a defensive position as she rose, the wind nipping playfully at the long pink strands of her bangs. In its hurry it also caught at the playing cards spread across the ground, scattering them to the four winds.

But Kisame could feel his bloodlust stirring at the mere idea of facing this particular girl. His answering smile was just as wide and twice as toothy, a mouthful of razors prepared to devour this tasty bit. "Guess it's just your lucky day."

The girl across from him sobered so quickly he almost thought he'd imagined her playful smile. Her eyes searched the horizon behind him, looking infinitely thoughtful. "Perhaps," she said, more to herself than to him. "Perhaps not. But a good day all the same."

"Good for what kunoichi?" Banter has always been his weakness. It had driven him mad the way Itachi preferred to never even confront the enemy if he could avoid it. Laying traps, sneaking around, always having those twisted eyes of his to fall back on. Deadly, but a dead bore. That was Itachi in the words of Hoshigaki Kisame. Kisame was the type of ninja who couldn't be satisfied unless he saw the fear and pain in his enemy's eyes as his sword chewed through them, could laugh as limbs and blood fell around him in a gory shower, all the world painted crimson from his bloodlust. No, there was nothing like a bloodbath to make Kisame happy. And this tiny girl before him held the potential to make him very happy indeed.

"Good day to kill, good day to die. In the end, they aren't that different after all." Sakura shrugged, the force of Kisame's mounting killing intent rolling from her like oil from water.

Kisame snorted. "Philosophy was never my strong point." And because patience wasn't either, he pulled Samheida from its position on his back, pointing the blunt tip at the kunoichi who stood across from him.

"So, are we going to start, or you going to pretend you're that yellow-haired jinchuriki brat and talk me to death?"

"That's mean, Kisame-san. That only happened _once_ and that man was _old_. You really can't blame Naruto for that." As she was speaking Sakura pulled a black silk wrapped object from the depths of her sleeve. Allowing the fabric to drift softly to the ground, Sakura gazed appraisingly at the broken hilt. "Kisame-san, I have a favor to ask of you."

"And what sort of favor would that be? Don't tell me you've changed your mind about fighting me. Like I can't tell you were just sitting here waiting." Kisame was getting impatient now, he could fairly feel Samheida humming in its eagerness.

Sakura's eyes laughed at that, but she was silent, her long fingers dancing over the wrapped hilt. "If

you're the one to walk away from this fight, could you tell my teammates something for me?"

Kisame laughed. "Giving up already? If that was all it took to make you admit defeat, you've already lost."

Sakura's eyes kept their perfectly amused veneer. "Tell Neji and Shikamaru that I love them dearly and the chamomile tea is in the third cabinet to the left of the stove." Her nimble fingers twirled the sword until she grasped it firmly in her right hand. "But, you see, I didn't say anything about losing. That was just in case you changed your mind." Then, her eyes fixed upon his, her mouth curved in a perfectly charming grin, Sakura Haruno thrust the blade through the palm of her left hand.

Kisame can't help but flinch slightly at the sight, especially as the girl's eyes close in what appear to be rapture. "Damn. At least Hidan had an excuse for being an absolute nut." He eyed Sakura in wary disgust as she twisted the blade until the edge of the katana faced her fingers. Then, resettling her grip to accommodate the new position Sakura ripped the blade upward, splitting her hand like it was a rotten fruit.

A spray of blood accompanied the violent movement, but Kisame's eyes had automatically focused on the sword. Because it wasn't broken anymore. Blood dripped in a sibilant symphony from the superheated blade, the beat discordant as Sakura's hand shook with some repressed emotion. The blade alone was enough to draw the eye, let alone the masterful craftsmanship of the whole. What it was forged of didn't look like steel at all, but if blood could crystallize, then that was what that shining, deadly sharp length was composed of. In fact, Kisame had only seen blades like it once before and his thoughts froze in horrified disbelief. "Hidan..." his normally strong voice trailed off, not able to finish the thought.

The kunoichi had tilted her head down to look at the sword, throwing her eyes into shadow. She didn't even seem to notice her ruined hand. "So this is what it was...this whole time...who would have thought it was a deified object...no wonder the scrolls weren't clear..." She takes a deep, shuddering breath before her breathing evens out and the tension seeps from her frame. "So this is Jashin-sama."

The vivid, all-encompassing green of her eyes is the clearest he has yet seen when she next looks at him. The veil of absentminded madness has fallen from her, torn away as easily as her fragile flesh. But she still makes the effort, which he appreciates, as it gives him time to recover his lost equilibrium. Raising the long blade into a salute position, her eyes study it as she comments, "I just don't think it's my look."

This is as unguarded as he ever expects to see a ninja of their level, so he lunges and brings Saimheida down in a punishing one-handed strike, more to test her reflexes than a serious intent to damage her. Medic training engrained into her very bones, she chooses to dodge rather than parry, leaping clear. Kisame notes that she doesn't let Saimheida near enough to even shave her chakra. A hungry grin pulls at the muscles of his face. Oh yes, most fights were fun, but a fight against an opponent who was both skilled and informed? That was priceless.

Sakura continues speaking like she'd never moved. "I mean, Sasuke and Neji, they're katana types. Me? Give me a war axe or a broadsword any day." This time when Kisame moves it is with intent, because he is beginning to realize this girl is the kind that is always dangerously underestimated. Must be the hair.

XXX

For all his brilliance Shikamaru cannot quite pinpoint exactly what is troublesome about this situation. Perhaps it is the fact that for all his hard work and preparation he never actually got to fight his blue-haired target. It might be the fact that of all the Akatsuki, the lone female had fallen to him. Or that things had deviated so far from anything he might have planned he almost feels he is being punished for dangling such a valuable compatriot in front of his enemies like a particularly nice bit of meat before a starving dog. A great deal of the general troublesomeness of the situation can be attributed to the fact that half an hour with Naruto has turned one of the most fearsome ninjas in the world into, if not a soft-hearted philanthropist, at least a sane and rational human being with a definite soft spot for fluffy puppies and cute little girls who practice origami.

A frown marring his usual untroubled features, Shikamaru assessed the situation once more. No, he decides, it is none of these things that made the situation truly troublesome. His frown deepening, he looked skyward toward the source of his ire. Rain pours down in torrents, running on top of the already saturated earth, lapping at the slightly elevated entrance that was standard for all dwellings in Rain, even abandoned little huts like this one. Speaking to no one in particular, because it appears in their bonding experience the two Akatsuki members and the jinchuriki he brought with him have forgotten him. Not that he minds, because that is a ninja's greatest advantage, but still… "When Naruto defeated him I thought the rain was supposed to _stop. _If I went out to cloud watch now I'd probably drown."

A/N: All right, about the sword. I'm under the impression that in some eastern religions, objects can be gods. So, so sorry for the shortness, but everything else fits more neatly into a new chapter. And I haven't uploaded anything for a long, long time.

"Ugh," Sakura scowled, holding her hand against her head like her brain was attempting to escape. "It's like having Naruto in there. Blah, blah, blah. Never shuts up."

Sakura's emerald eyes dart across the landscape, taking in the total isolation that was the reason that this particular point was chosen. "And now I really am talking to myself. Damn it!"


	11. Scheming

Disclaimer: As I'm not even making an attempt at staying true to cannon, why would I own anything?

A/N: At last, another installment of Fallen Night! Thanks for staying with me for all this time. I hope I've stayed true to the spirit of the story, but it has been a long, long time. Beware citrusy implications. My muse decided to take an idea and run with it, so we'll see how it goes.

Fallen Night

-Chapter Eleven-

Scheming

_Hotel in Konoha_

Sakura stared down at the bandage wrapped sword mournfully. "How would you like a sword of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist?" she offered Shikmaru, who was pulling his hair back up into its usual spiky tail.

Shikamaru sighed and pulled his shirt back on. Sakura was quickly ruining the blissfully peaceful feeling usually inspired by the end of another "diplomatic" visit from Temari. He liked the girl well enough, but she was rough, all the way through. Shikamaru scowled. With his father's blood running in his veins and with his luck in women, he'd probably end up married to her.

"You're the one that defeated him, Sakura. It's your sword."

A childish pout appeared on Sakura's lips.

"Give to that crazy nin with Sasuke if you don't want it."

"They both talk!" Sakura wailed and Shikamaru's gaze fell to the katana already strapped across her back, the blade covered in what appeared to be sealing sutras and wrapped with an eerily black chain. From what he understood, the blade was a deified object, a dark kami of war, that went by the name of Jashin. Perhaps in its distant past it had belonged to a warlord, who worshipped it and fed the blade on his enemies, or perhaps it had simply grown old and accumulated power, gathering followers like that bastard Hidan. He wondered idly if Sakura was now immortal. That was a fearsome thought.

"Well, actually," Sakura clarified, "Jashin more mutters, now that he's been resealed and, what was your name again?" she asked the sword, "Samehada-chan talks."

Shikamaru scratched his head and yawned, wishing that Sakura would respect the reason he'd chosen a hotel instead of their shared home. "Why don't you just keep it?"

"Him," Sakura corrected absently. "Because he looks ridiculous. He's as tall as me, but he'll whine if I seal him."

"When has being ridiculous ever stopped you from doing anything?" Shikamaru challenged. He watched as her eyes clouded over in memory. He too remembered a time when Sakura wouldn't embarrass herself for anything less than her precious Sasuke-kun, for whom she'd sacrificed her dignity as both a ninja and a human being many a time.

"You're right," Sakura acknowledged, then her grin widened. "And it'll anger Suigetsu."

Shikamaru wondered how anyone could have so much enthusiasm for madness, the way Sakura did. The way Neji did. Lately there'd been times when he felt like he was waking from a long and perfect dream, only to find himself surrounded by reality.

Almost as if she could read his thoughts, Sakura stood and gave him such a look he imagined those suddenly sharp green eyes might pierce the depths of his soul. "Where are you going, Shikamaru?" she asked as she slipped the great white sword onto her back.

"Nowhere you can't follow," he told her, giving up the fight and collapsing back on the bed, feet still planted on the floor. Staring up at the elaborate swirls of the ceiling putty, he tried to imagine they were clouds and couldn't. He'd hate to move to Suna. Weeks on end without a cloud in the sky. How did humans survive in such an environment?

"I don't want to follow where you're going," Sakura told him irritably as she peered down at his face.

"Well," he said at last when it was apparent she wasn't going to simply leave, "where do you want to go?"

"To a world that never was," she answered immediately.

Shikamaru raised his hand above his head, staring at the ceiling through the net of his fingers. "Then why are you waiting here?"

Sakura tilted her head and smiled brightly down at him. "Tsunade-sama ordered us to watch Team Sneaky Snake."

Shikamaru groaned. "That was a terrible pun," he told her.

"I know. I'm punishing you. I'm considering being punny for the rest of the day."

Shikamaru covered his face with a hand and tried to find that happy place he'd been in so recently. No such luck.

_Uchiha Estate_

Sasuke could feel a twitch developing in his right eye.

"So, where's your fearless leader and that Shikamaru dude?" Suigetsu inquired of the Hyuuga, who was going through the ritualized movements of the tea ceremony. Which was all well and good, except he was _sitting on the table_. Sitting on _his_ table. "What, exactly, are you doing?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"What does it look like?" Neji asked rhetorically. "I'm making tea?"

"And it's necessary to do that on the table?"

"Isn't that where one normally makes tea?"  
"Not while they sit on the table," Sasuke growled.

"That is the weakness of the Sharingan. To be caught up in details," Neji said with a haughty tone.

"What the hell is your problem?" Sasuke demanded. "You're being strange even for you."

"I have decided to consider things from a different perspective. Doing so requires changing the way I perceive the world. Thus, I sit on the table," he said with all the gravity of a philosopher.

Sasuke resisted the urge to attack. "Does it have to be my table?"

"Until you are off probation, I believe the council still has control of most of your assets. So I'm really setting on the council's table."

Karin pushed her glasses higher up the bridge of her nose. "Why do you need to consider things from a different perspective?" she asked reasonably.

"Our next guest to the party is a little trickier than the ones who have come before. Invitations might be arranged, but he's a most peculiar kind of a man. He likes to think he's immortal."

"So," a bright voice chirped from the window, "we'd like to give him a _very _special present. Unfortunately we don't know what it is yet or how to deliver it."

Sasuke was shamed to feel a kind of terror as Sakura crawled in his window. It was bad enough to have one of them, but their special brand of madness was always compounded when all of them were present. Luckily enough, no dark-haired shinobi followed her in.

"Where's Shikamaru?" Neji asked as she alighted daintily at Sasuke's table, her robes flowing out impressively behind her as she sat, removing something from her back as she did so. His eyes widened when he recognized the sword of Itachi's partner. Was that what they'd been doing?

He heard Suigetsu choke on the water he'd been guzzling. "Is that Samehada?" he asked reverently.

"Mm," Sakura agreed as she accepted a cookie…from a platter that Neji had apparently pulled from his wide sleeves.

When Sasuke made a strangled sound in his throat, the Hyuuga raised a dark brow. "You use storage seals in your shuriken jutsu, don't you?"

"Yes," he agreed, "but I don't store _cookies_ in a jutsu."

Sakura looked on him with pitying eyes. "You know, that explains so much about you, Sasuke. Everyone needs a little daifuku now and then." She then bit into the little pink confection with care. "Strawberry filled," she said with delight. "Neji really prefers the mochi flavor, but I like mine a little sweeter," she confided.

"Where did you get it?" Suigetsu inquired eagerly, cutting off Sasuke, who realized he was about to continue the inane argument too late.

"This?" she held her treat up. "Neji made them. He's really more of a pastry artist, but he can do traditional sweets as well."

That distracted Karin. "He _bakes_?"

"I'm talking about the sword," Suigetsu snapped.

Sakura glanced down at bandaged sword like she'd forgotten she'd put it there. "Oh, him," she said dismissively, "he just followed me home after I killed his last master."

"Kisame's dead?" Sasuke demanded.

"As a doornail," Sakura said cheerfully, but then she looked reflective. "Why do you suppose we use doornails as a comparison point? Why not coffin nails? Roofing nails? Aluminum siding nails?"

When Neji looked as if he was actually giving serious consideration to her question, Sasuke wondered if they'd extend his probation or give him an award if he strangled them both. Desperate to interceded, he asked the question Sakura had never answered from before. "Where's Shikamaru?"

"Recovering."

"Was he injured? He was there while you were fighting Kisame, wasn't he?" Karin asked.

"No. Shikamaru's target was Konan, but Naruto got to her first."

"He defeated her?" Sasuke questioned sharply.

"No. More like he talked her, her partner, and her dead former teammate into believing in love, hope, and springtime. So they've gone off to do goodness knows what."

"I don't think he actually had to talk Yahiko into anything," Neji said mildly.

"No, but it makes for a better story."

"So what is he recovering from, then?" Karin asked. "And if he wasn't with you, who was there when you killed Kisame?"

"Mostly Kisame was there when I killed Kisame and then Kisame was mostly there," Sakura told her.

"That was terrible," Neji murmured.

"I know. I'm punishing Shikamaru from a distance with bad puns."

Even Neji looked a little confused by that one. "How would that work, exactly?"

"Talent," she told him quite seriously. "The little traitor. He's going to leave us, you know."

"Leave?" Karin asked.

"For Temari. Once Akatsuki is dead, Shikamaru won't be ours anymore," she looked incredibly melancholy for a moment, then she perked up. "Maybe a trade. Shikamaru is at least smart enough to be a Kazekage, so we can take Gaara and she can have Shikamaru."

Sasuke really hoped his jaw hadn't dropped open like Karin's.

"Shouldn't you ask this Gaara his opinion?" Juugo asked, speaking for the first time.

Sakura blinked at the much larger nin. "Why would we do that? He might say no."

"Don't you think Suna might be a little upset at losing one of their strongest ninja?"

"We'd take real good care of him."

"He isn't a pet."

"He lets me call him panda-kun!"

"Logic only works to win an argument in a world that operates according to logic's rules," Neji informed Sasuke. "Though I have problems with your choice."

"Why? Don't we have fun with Gaara?"

"Yes, but—"

Sasuke cut them both off, "Would you stop talking like you're picking the replacement for your threesome and tell us what happened with Akatsuki."

Sakura blinked at him slowly, like he'd said something incredibly dense. "But we are picking the replacement member for our threesome."

Sasuke ignored the fangirlish shriek of delight that emerged from Karin's quarter and the speculative light that had dawned in Suigetsu's eyes. Fallen Night seemed to feel like it was an obligation to mess with people's heads, so he thought that last comment could be read in the most innocent light possible. Or at the very least he hoped so, ignoring the strange way his heart had contracted as Sakura had said the words.

But nothing could stop Suigetsu. "So," he drawled tauntingly, "I thought you might be into guys, with hair like that."

That made Neji snort. "Not at all. But Sakura is and Sakura's my partner. And, unlike you, I'm capable of keeping a girl _happy_."

"Oh? Then why a threesome if you can keep her so happy?"

Sasuke wondered desperately when he'd fallen into an _Icha Icha _novel. There were few times in his life when he'd been so grateful to see someone enter a room as he was glad to see Naruto now. Naruto stood stock-still for a moment as he took in the scene. "Why are you sitting on the table?"

"So people will ask that question," Sakura replied.

"Oh. Alright," he accepted the answer easily enough and took a chair, accepting a proffered cookie from the plate. Then he glanced over at Sasuke and his eyes Naruto. "Why does Sasuke look like you just stabbed him in the gut with a kunai?"

Neji opened his mouth to answer, but Naruto cut him off and said, "And if I find out you really stabbed him in the gut with a kunai, I'm going to…well, probably tell you not to do it again. But as I don't smell any blood, I want to know what happened."

"Did you know they were a threesome? And Shikamaru is cheating on them with someone called Temari?" Karin demanded.

"So Shikamaru's actually admitting he's dating her nowadays?" Naruto asked dryly. "She's the Kazekage's sister," he explained to Karin. "They've had sexual tension for _ages_ now. Even I could see it."

He shot the members of Fallen Night a stern look. "And you know you shouldn't mess with Sasuke's head like that. What'll you do if Hiashi heard about this?"

"Deny all knowledge and blame someone else?" Sakura suggested.

"Get married and live in tedious respectability for the rest of our life," Neji intoned.

"Not even I believed that one," Naruto said dryly. "Or at least about the tedious part." He brightened. "Hey, if you and Neji get married and Hiashi doesn't kill me before I can propose to Hinata, we can really be related!"

Sasuke ignored the way his stomach clenched at the suggestion, at the way that plan left him neatly out in the cold.

"Ha! I wouldn't even have to change my initials. But isn't that bad luck?"

Neji rolled his eyes. "Only if you're a westerner."

"Well, my pink hair had to come from somewhere."

"I don't think that's a common hair color even over there," Naruto told her. "I think you're just going to accept it as a freak of genetics. I wonder if it's a dominant gene? Because if you ever have kids, I'll feel sorry for the boys."

Sakura sniffed, "I'm sure any children I have will be wonderful, even if they do have pink hair. And I'm probably safe, so long as I don't marry a red-head."

"And that's why you can't abduct Gaara," Neji pointed out triumphantly.

Sakura shot him a dirty look while Naruto held out a hand. "Wait just a minute. You two weren't considering abducting Gaara on a permanent basis, were you?"

"Well, there's no law against it," Sakura answered cheekily.

"Anyhow—" Naruto never got to finish what he was about to say, because at that moment Suigetsu launched himself into the air, bringing down Zabuza's sword in an overhead swing at Sakura. Who promptly leaned forward to snatch another cookie, half-drawing a second sword that Sasuke had somehow failed to notice, despite being sealed quite as dramatically as Samehada. She caught the weight of the enormous sword with apparent ease and, polishing off her new cookie in a single bite, rammed Samehada through Suigetsu's abdomen with her free hand.

Suigetsu gave her a sharkish grin as he promptly turned to water, but that only seemed to garner him an equally predatory expression in return. "Your molecules are held together by chakra. What happens when you don't have any?" she challenged him and the sword began to wriggle beneath its bandages. Rather than retreating, he adjusted his hold on his own sword and attempted to behead Sakura. This strike was also blocked as she drew the other sword.

Sakura clicked her tongue chidingly at Suigetsu. "I'll tear you apart and serve you for sushi," she told him evenly. "And sushi doesn't even go with red tea."

"Actually, you don't even like sushi at all," Neji pointed out.

"You have a point," she conceded. "But I'll still kill you if you don't back down. I'm more useful to Tsunade-sama than you are, Sui-chan."

"Suigetsu," Sasuke said warningly.

"That sword was the only reason I followed you in the first place," Suigetsu grumbled as he stepped back and off the table, abdomen filling back in.

"Well, no one thought it was for his personality," Neji said. "Why don't you give up on that and have something to eat?" He proffered the plate of sweets he'd saved from Suigetsu's attack.

"What are you, my mother? I don't even like daifuku," Suigetsu whined.

Sasuke had an inkling of what was coming when Neji set the plate down. But he still had to resist the urge to facepalm as Neji withdrew _another_ tray from his sleeve, this one piled high with dango.

"You all are the craziest, weirdest ninjas I've ever met," Suigetsu declared solemnly. "And I worked for Orochimaru."

"That's it!" Sakura declared, banging her hand down against the table and startling everyone.

"What's it?" Naruto asked warily.

"How'll we'll beat Madara, of course!"

"With snacks?" his tone was nonplussed.

"With Sasuke! Now that he's upgraded his Sharingan, he can use Tsukiyomi too! Our problem was that we couldn't touch him, but if Sasuke can trap him in this time and this space, we can kill him. And then have cookies."

"What makes you think I'll help with this little scheme of yours?" Sasuke asked. "I can't even the village."

"Can't implies there is some sort of physical disability preventing you from leaving the village. All you have is a Hokage's mandate. Which is more like a suggestion than anything," Neji told him, an entirely too satisfied smirk resting on his lips.

"A Hokage's mandate is not a suggestion," Naruto told the two members of Fallen Night, who didn't look quite convinced by his words.

"They can be ignored in the quest for the greater good," Neji said dismissively.

"Isn't that a villain line?" Karin asked.

"What made you think we were the good guys to begin with?" Sakura asked and most of the nins in the room found themselves without an answer.

A/N: Daifuku literally means great luck, so when Sakura's talking to Sasuke, she's not only recommending the dessert, she's always saying everyone needs a little luck now and then. And I suppose they're more cake-like than cookie-like, but go with it.

Next chapter, off to fight the good boy!


	12. Conceal and Covet

Disclaimer: Obviously, if I owned Naruto, it would look a great deal more like one of these stories and not canon.

A/N: Wow, it's been a long, long time since I've worked with Fallen Night. Off-the-wall crack is actually harder to write than all that heavy drama that drags down all the other stories. But, here it is, at last. Writing this actually made me wish that the characters in FKftD were as OOC, so I actually might be able to write that "ANBU Orgy." Anyhow, welcome back to the madness and enjoy.

Also, this chapter, though short, is dedicated to Sakura Taichou, who did the really excellent fanart that is now the image for this story.

Fallen Night

-Chapter Twelve-

Covet and Conceal

Sasuke eyed the slightly vicious liquid in front of him with a mixture of wariness and disdain. "Am I supposed to drink it or use it to take the finish off the bar?"

Naruto shrugged, downing his entire glass with a wince. "Works either way." As Sasuke picked it up, sloshing the overfull glass, he warned, "Ah, don't spill it. It really does remove the finish. Mama will be pissed."

Sasuke sat the drink back on the counter without tasting it, glancing around the darkened and boisterous room as best he could. It seemed like almost every shinobi he had ever met was drinking tonight to celebrate Madara's demise, but he couldn't understand what about this particular bar had made it attractive. It was large, two stories, and crammed past fire code capacity, but the alcohol all had a slightly dangerous look to it. He looked askance at a drink being carried to Ino that he would swear was not only the most noxious shade of neon pink he'd ever seen, but appeared to be glowing. "Where's your Hyuuga stalker?" he asked Naruto, spotting his eerie doppelganger sitting in a far corner of the bar-was he sketching?-but there was no navy-haired heiress to be seen. "She not drink?"

"Nah, she just doesn't drink cheap booze. If it isn't at least as old as her grandfather, she won't touch it."

Sasuke snorted, then cautiously glanced over his left shoulder. Hyuuga Neji sat next to him, back slumped, gazing into his awamori like it contained the answers to life, death, and the universe. Next to him, Sakura was well on her way to constructing a pyramid of sake dishes that Tsunade herself would be envious of.

"We've been here twenty minutes. She's going to fall over dead of alcohol poisoning," Sasuke muttered.

Naruto tipped forward to look down the bar. "Shimmata. She's going to be unbearable after this."

"I don't see your third wheel. Where's Shikamaru?" he addressed this question to Neji, but he was ignored. Well, he'd half expected him to be a sullen drunk anyway.

But Naruto had his answer. "Shikamaru is too laid back to keep up with Neji and Sakura when they're drinking."

"I don't think Neji has moved for the last ten minutes."

Naruto waved off his objection. "Just you wait," he said ominously. "Lee is bad. Neji is worse."

"So I should expect a fight?" Sasuke asked dryly.

"No, but let's just say it's safer for everyone if Neji keeps his inhibitions nice and intact."

Sasuke scoffed, then almost choked as a slightly tipsy Karen flung her arms around his neck. "Sa-su-ke-kun!" she trilled. He was grateful when Suigetsu took her by the collar like a bitch might her pup and drug her off into the confusion with a lopsided salute.

Naruto snickered. "Good to have friendly team members. So, Sa-su-ke-kun," he mocked and Sasuke scowled, "what are you going to do after this. Institute the new and improved Uchiha breeding program?"

"Danzou is still in power."

"Yeah, well, Danzou's shaking in his boots. We offed Madara, which means plenty of goodwill from the elders, which translated to-."

"Leniency." Neji's firm answer was unexpected and almost made Sasuke flinch from surprise. He _did _flinch as Neji's white eyes, narrowed and intense, turned towards him. "No matter the lunacy. You're no longer needed, Uchiha. Retire safely and become a househusband. Have many, many children. And stay out of the way of better shinobi than you."

"Geez, Neji, you're going to have him a doddering grandpa at the rate you're shoving him," Naruto chided him. "Besides, it's not like he can have those children himself. Karen-creeper or not, he has to have a girl willing to sign on for the whole parenthood thing to work."

Sakura chuckled from her seat next to Neji. Sasuke noticed, even over the cacophony of sound, because Orochimaru had a laugh just like it. Sakura wore a look of melancholy contemplation as she stared at her hand, but then, one by one, her fingers began to glow with green chakra. "All things are possible through science!" she declared, abruptly standing and thrusting her hand toward the ceiling, still staring up at it like she held something very important in her hand.

"Hey," Naruto grumbled, "Neji, take care of her god complex before she hurts someone with that thing."

Neji glanced over at his companion and for a moment Sasuke thought he would only offer some pithy comment, but then he reached out and captured her other arm, pulling her off balance. When she stumbled, he half-rose to meet her, capturing her mouth with his in a chaste kiss that startled the hell out of Sasuke but didn't seem to surprise Sakura.

Instead, her melancholy turned into a kind of seductive cunning that Sasuke was uncomfortable to see on her face. Hooking her heel around the leg of Neji's barstool, she sent it tumbling to the ground, letting it take her with it. Sasuke winced at the solid sound of Neji's back hitting the floor, but Sakura's hand cradled his head, pulling him up to her as she straddled him and deepened the kiss.

Naruto made a sound of frustration, but it was like watching a train wreck. Sasuke found it difficult to turn away. "This is why Shikamaru doesn't drink with them."

"Why?" Sasuke croaked. "I thought they jumped each other's bones in private, anyway."

"Because Neji turns into an angry, ultra-selective masochist and Sakura is a sadist with a god-complex. Oi, there are laws against that!" he yelled at them. "Shikamaru, on the other hand, is just what you'd might expect-he's in a coma after about four drinks. Not that that has stopped Sakura in the past, but still-hey, Sakura, you know Neji is always surly about this whole exposure thing when he sobers up."

Sasuke was just about dumbstruck. "He didn't even finish that first drink."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Extreme lightweight. He's picky about food, too. Can't imagine what Sakura sees in him."

Sakura sat up and turned to Naruto with a maniacal grin. "Shall I tell you?"

"Nope," Naruto replied promptly, "that would be chronic over sharing. You can do it with Ino, but I find it weird as crap. It's like the ghost of Pervy-sage come to haunt me."

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke, still not moving from her inappropriate perch on her teammate. "I have something I want to say to you Sasuke."

Sasuke leaned back against the bar, affecting ease, though this was the most surreal he'd felt since meeting Fallen Night for the first time. "What?"

Sakura leaned forward, like she was about to impart a secret, speaking in a stage whisper, "I have _two _swords and both of them are bigger than yours!" And with a laugh, she collected Neji like he was made of paper and swept him out the door.

"They're strange sober, but that's always creepy, no matter how many times I see it," Naruto observed, motioning for the bartender to serve him another drink.

Sasuke, shaken, actually took a sip of his. It was just as bad as it looked.

-X-X-X-

_Atop the Hokage Monument_

Almost drowned out by thunder and the downpour, Sakura was weeping inconsolably against Neji's chest. Like her heart was breaking. His arms tightened unconsciously around her as he continued his silent passivity, even when she began to struggle to get enough distance between him so that she could hit fisted hands against his chest. Perhaps others might be foolish enough, but Sakura's teary fits had been known to end in broken bones.

"Shikamaru's not leaving you," he explained patiently."He's going to Temari." If Sakura had a god complex, it was a god with abandonment issues and petulant mood swings when drunk that could put a cursed-seal bearer to shame. Which, really, might have been what made it a god complex and not a simple superiority complex.

"Which means leaving me!" Sakura wailed.

"If it makes you feel any better, he does owe you his first born son."

Sakura made a face against his clothing, where she'd half-heartedly tried to headbutt him in the sternum. "Who'd want Shikamaru's son? I've seen his father. Nara men are carbon copies of each other." She went very still then and Neji braced himself. Sakura did not disappoint. She threw her head back and howled, "Shikamaru Nara, you owe me your firstborn son's virginity!"

"Yes, I'm sure _that _will inspire steady relations with the Kazekage. At least make certain to wait until his nephew is legal."

Sakura frowned up at him. "Grump. You make me sound like some sort of child molester."

"_You _are the one proposing to sleep with a boy at least nineteen years younger than you. At best, you can hope for him to be half your age."

"Picky, picky. You know I'll always come back to you in the end."

"Because I feed you."

Sakura smiled, the rain washing away snot and tears, leaving her only red-eyed and stuffy-sounding. "Body and soul. Now," and thunder rumbled across the sky above them, "want to make the earth move?"

Neji smiled back, even as Sakura broke his hold and splaying him out against the porous stone, continuing where she'd left off in the bar. "You make it sound like you're giving me the option."

Sakura clicked her tongue at him. "And you know all my best rape fantasies are with Gaara."

"And if you keep talking about other men while taking advantage of me, I'm going to get angry."

"You're the one who keeps talking."

In the end, Sakura had the last word. But only because she cheated.

-X-X-X-

_Uchiha Estate, the next day_

Sasuke had always been under the impression that 'feeling the earth move' was some romantic tripe put together by giggling, starry-eyed virgins. Perhaps it had been the alcohol, but he had a strange memory of the earth actually moving last night-as in an earthquake.

He had no definitive proof that the geological event was even faintly related to his former teammate, but he'd learned well the lesson that any and all inexplicable events had Fallen Night at their root. So he was suitably wary of the two members of Fallen Night who'd appeared promptly at dawn, looking far less hungover than he felt.

They were thus far being harmless-there were no summoned baked goods, they'd assaulted no one, and they were even sitting properly on the cushions, though they seemed to by arguing about something.

The battle with Madara still loomed large on his mind. For him, it had been as drastic and life-changing as their battle with Zabuza. But the two of them seemed to have discarded it like yesterday's newspaper. And it _had _been impressive, even if for once he'd been the one sidelined, all his focus on quashing Madara's dimension-spanning abilities.

The worst point had come when Sakura had activated a sealed paper that she'd afterwards told him she'd conned from a man whose code-name was Yamato. "It's a theory," she'd exclaimed, "that the enmity between Uchiha Madara and the First Hokage sprang, not from a disagreement about who ruled the village, but from young Madara's extreme to the point of fatality allergies to poison ivy, oak, and sumac." She'd announced it with all the drama of a voice-over reading out an origin story and had then proceeded to use the seal, which had, briefly, bound Madara in tendrils of foliage. Madara had seemed more confused than injured by the attack, but Sakura, Neji, and Shikamaru had shrugged and moved on, leaving one with the feeling, "Wasn't it a pity it hadn't worked?"

The high point of overdone, overdramatic lines had belonged to Neji. Madara had been taunting them, batting away Naruto and telling them that with his Sharingan eyes, he really could predict the future and that they had no chance of defeating him, etc. While this speech had been going on, Sakura had worn a disappointed sulk on her face. She'd later told him it was because that this had been Madara and he really should have been better than villain monologues.

Neji, having heard this monologue as well, had assumed his own best look of overdone superiority. "Your powers allow you to look into the future, but you can only see so far ahead. I am not so limited." A smirk had tugged at his lips. "You are within the range of my divination. Want to hear your fortune for the rest of the year?"

"Bad luck!" Sakura had cackled, slamming her hand into the ground and raising what must have been a twenty foot barrier of shining crystal around them all. Even Sasuke could feel the increase in temperature as the sun had poured unforgiving through the crystal matrix. Her hands had blurred in a complex series of seals until she halted on the tiger. "Houshi-sama," she'd trilled, "may we begin the purification?"

"Troublesome," Shikamaru had muttered as he'd used his shadow to lock Madara in place.

And while Sasuke had watched Neji use the Gentle Fist style before, there seemed something suspiciously flashy about the way he executed his attack, followed close enough to singe by a Sakura who'd somehow managed to find a jutsu that set her fists aflame. After that, they'd waved Naruto on and let him do the final honors in the battle.

"It's a drag to think of lifechanging motivational speeches after a fight," Shikamaru had muttered. Neji had been offering Sakura what looked to be a congratulatory cup of tea, which she heated by virtue of her still flaming hands. After performing the same service for Neji's cup, she gratefully accepted what looked like some sort of iced tart before turning to watch Naruto's battle like they were watching the filming of a movie. They hadn't even _moved, _even when debris, Naruto, and acidic demon chakra whipped by.

Even just the memory made him angry. "What are you going to do about Danzou?" he demanded.

Sakura blinked up at him. "Sasuke, we just helped eliminate the single greatest external threat to Konoha. Not even Tsunade expects anything from us for at least a week and a half. Anyhow, we could just wait him out. He can't live for more than another ten years or so."

Tearing out hanks of his hair in frustration would not only be unmanly, but it would be uncool. So Sasuke refrained. "You expect me to wait ten years for the man who engineered the slaughter of my clan to die of natural causes."

"When you put it that way, yes," Neji answered, never looking up from the game board they'd been arguing over. It was a go board and they were playing with go stones, but whatever they were playing, it didn't resemble go in the slightest. "They say the best revenge is to have a good life. Just think, within ten years you could have five or six children, a stable home life, and maybe even get a promotion. I'd bet that would really steam Danzou."

Sakura nodded vigorously. "Yep. Sounds like a plan. Doesn't it, Shikamaru?"

Sasuke stared at her. Was she now talking to people that weren't even here? "Shikamaru?"

"Underneath the table."

Watching her warily, as if she might attack, Sasuke crouched, to find Shikamaru was laying beneath the table, full-length corpse style. He didn't even seem to be blinking as he stared up at the underbelly of the table. "When did you even get here?" he demanded.

"I've always been here," Shikamaru answered lackadaisically. "Where have you been?"

It sounded dangerously philosophical. "That is it," Sasuke growled.

Two members of Fallen Night looked to him, while Shikamaru continued to ignore him. "I don't want the three of you in this house any more. I'll take that damn freak Sai over the three of you. So, please, just go!" It was only after the words escaped that he realized it sounded like he was begging. But if that was what it took to maintain his sanity, then to hell with pride.

"I feel unloved. Do you feel unloved?" Sakura asked Neji.

Neji scoffed. "Who would want to be loved by _that_?"

"I feel unloved," Shikamaru-beneath-the-table said, prompting Sakura to kick him lightly. "Hey, I was agreeing."

"You don't get to have an opinion, you philanderer."

Sasuke thought he heard a very soft, "Hedonistic bitch," but it was soon swallowed by a grunt of pain. "Why is that I am punished for committing myself to one woman? Isn't that what you women want?"

"Please do not reduce the opinions of 3.25 billion people to 'what you women want.'"

"Why not?" Shikamaru challenged. "None of you are ever satisfied anyway."

Sakura looked like she was about to argue, tilted her head consideringly to one side, then answered, "That's human nature, isn't it? There isn't some sort of happiness gauge that you fill up and that's it. Everyone always wants something more than they have. Without that desire, people might just stop moving and die, neh?"

Sasuke could see he'd been quickly forgotten. "Did you not hear me? I told you to leave!"

"Sasuke, when you've had enough of being an avenger and decided to become a human being, you can have opinions. Until then, you're wasting your breath," Sakura told him airily without looking at him.

Sasuke's hand involuntarily caressed Kusanagi. He was confident in his ability to take out at least two of them, but he wasn't certain he could kill all three at once. No one, except maybe Orochimaru, had made him consider killing them so often. Except Itachi, but as he'd been the focal point of two-thirds of his life, he didn't think he counted.

He became aware that all three were staring at him. "Subtlety would be a good addition to all that killing intent," Neji told him archly.

Sasuke screamed in frustration.

-X-X-X-

Naruto had been painfully oblivious to Hinata's feelings for the entire time they'd been in the academy and remained so for years afterward. It had actually been Tenten, frustrated after Hiashi had been unnecessarily harsh with Neji after finding Hinata quietly crying about her inability to actually _tell _him of these feelings, who'd unkindly widened his tunnel vision when it came to women.

Although, thinking back, she might have shouted something like that when the village had been in shambles around them and no one knew if they would live to see another day. He'd forgotten about that until now.

Well, it wasn't like he had to tell her that he'd forgotten her first confession. Guys did that all the time, right? Okay, so maybe that was after twenty years of marriage, but still, he didn't think she'd hold it against him. He wouldn't hold it against her if she forgot his first confession. Of course, he was a special case, his first crush having been on Sakura, who usually answered him with violence. Actually, thinking back, she'd responded to just about everything but Sasuke with violence, except when it came to actual fights, where you'd think she would have been able to safely eke out her frustration.

Being a special case, he didn't find Hinata's stalker-ish tendencies of the past all that strange either. After all, he'd been impersonating certain people to get Sakura's attention. If that wasn't desperate, what was? And, really, how likely was it he'd find another girl who wouldn't even ask about his time with Jiriaya?

So, all in all, he considered himself pretty lucky, even if he would have the misfortune of being related by law to a man who had absolutely no compunctions about more or less binding his bloodkin to servitude.

And Hinata looked adorably bemused when he presented her with flowers as an apology for not remembering her confession until this moment.


End file.
